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THE 



HISTORY OF MASSACHUSEHS, 



FROM THE 



tmixn^ of i^ fcriin| to i^ ]\nmi fim^. 

INCLUDING 

A NARRATIVE OF THE PERSECUTIONS BY STATE AND CHURCH IN ENGLAND; 
THE EARLY VOYAGES TO NORTH AMERICA; THE EXPLORATIONS OF 
THE EARLY SETTLERS; THEIR HARDSHIPS, SUFFERINGS, AND 
CONFLICTS WITH THE SAVAGES; THE RISE OF COLONIAL 
POWER; THE BIRTH OF INDEPENDENCE; THE FOR- 
MATION OF THE COMMONWEALTH, AND THE 
GRADUAL PROGRESS OF THE STATE FROM 
ITS EARLIEST INFANCY TO ITS 
PRESENT HIGH POSITION. 



BY 



GEORGE LOWELL AUSTIN, 

AUTHOR OF "life OF LONGFELLOW," "LIFE OF FRANZ SCHUBERT," "AUSTIN'S HANDBOOK 

AND GENERAL EDUCATOR," ETC. ; MEMBER OF THE N. E. HISTORIC-GENEALOGICAL 

SOCIETY, THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, ETC., ETC. 



BOSTON : ^^'===^- 
B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 

1884. 



Copyright, 1875, 
By GEORGE L. AUSTIN. 



Copyright, 1884, 
By B. B. RUSSELL. 



JFranfeltn ?3rfss: 

RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, 
BOSTON. 



PKEFACE. 



In the following pages I have sought to trace the sequence 
of events which constitute the history of Massachusetts from 
the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620, to the present 
time. 

Massachusetts has a history which both she and her sister 
States may well regard with pride. Within her borders were 
sown the seeds which have given birth to a great people. 
Hither came, and lived, and died, its early founders. Here 
American freedom raised its first voice, and here "it still 
lives in the strength of its manhood, and full of its original 
spirit." In the words of her greatest orator and her most 
eminent statesman, " Massachusetts needs no encomium. 
There she is, — behold her, and judge for yourselves. There 
is her history, — the world knows it by heart." 

While seeking to overlook nothing of interest and impor- 
tance in the history of the State, I have purposely refrained 
from imparting to the narrative that completeness and ful- 
ness of details which one might be led to expect in a work 
of greater pretension. 

In a work of such character, prepared intentionally for 
the general public, and not for the political student, the his- 
torian can lay no claim to originality. As another has said, 
"It is not his province to create facts, but to take those 
already furnished " in the best sources of information. The 



VI PREFACE. 

researches of earlier writers have been such as to render 
almost unnecessary any special investigations on the part of 
those who come' after them. It remains only for the latter 
to corroborate their statements and to weigh carefully their 
conclusions. 

In the preparation of my work, I have endeavored to 
make the best use of the material afforded me, and have 
relied, for the most part, on those writers who were contem- 
porary with the events which they describe. At the same 
time, I have had constantly before me the works of the 
principal later historians, and have derived no small advan- 
tage from the published collections and proceedings of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, and from its volumes of 
lectures upon the early history of the State. In the arrange- 
ment of my matter, I have in general followed the plan 
adopted by Barry, whose larger history is by far the most 
comprehensive and valuable that has yet appeared. It is to 
be regretted that so studious and conscientious a work should 
have been allowed to pass out of print. 

It is believed that the present volume is the first attempt 
yet made to trace the history of the State since the 3'ear 
1820. The period intervening between that date and the 
present time is full of interest and of vital importance, alike 
to the citizen and to humanity. It has witnessed the growth 
of many conflicting opinions, the rise and development of new 
parties in the political arena, the sudden outburst of pas- 
sions which had long been dormant, the vindication of right, 
and the abolition of wrong. Last, but not the least, the 
epoch has been characterized by a struggle which, beginning 
in distrust, has rendered discord and disunion forever impos- 
sible, and has strengthened the ties of a mighty nation. 

I am under obligations to the library of Harvard College, 



PREFACE. vii 

to the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and to 
the Boston Public Library, all of whose treasures have been 
freely at my service. To many persons, whose names I need 
not mention, I stand indebted for valuable suggestions, tlie 
loan of rare material, and encouragement. I again acknowl- 
edge to them my gratitude. 

To the people of Massachusetts I commend whatever 
there is of worth and interest in the volume here set before 
them. 

Cambbidgg, Dec. 15, 1883. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 

Eeligious Parties in England. — Character of James I. — His Policy. — 
The Parliament of 1G04. — The King's Proclamation. — Plight of the 
Independents. — The Pilgrims in Leyden. — Agents sent to England. — 
The English in North America. — The London and Plymouth Colonies. 

— The Pilgrims leave England. — The Compact. — Forefathers' Rock. 

— Hardships. — The Spring of 1621. — Treaty with Massasoit. — A 
Local Government instituted. — Death of John Carver. — Thanksgiv- 
ing. — A new Patent. — A League against the Colonies. — The Ships 
of Master Weston. — Settlement at Wessagusset. — Illness of Massa- 
soit. — Plot against Weston's Colony. — Standish sent to Wessagusset. 

— Overthrow of Weston's Colony. — Fate of Weston. — Regulation of 
the Fisheries. — Distress of the Colonists. — Arrival of new Emigrants. 

— Colony of Robert Gorges. — Plot of Lyford and Oldham. — Their 
Expulsion. — The Dorchester Company founded. — The Colony at Cape 
Ann. — Intercourse with the Dutch. — De Rasieres in Plymouth. — 
Connection with the Merchant Adventurers dissolved. — Mr. Allerton 
goes to England. — Settlement at Mount Wollaston. — Morton of Merry 
Mount. — A new Grant obtained. — Progress of Settlement 1-26 

CHAPTER II. 

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 

Accession of Charles I. — The Dorchester Company dissolved. — Patent 
of the Massachusetts Colony. — The Massachusetts Company formed. 
— Emigration under Endicott. — Local Government established. — Em- 
igration under Higginson. — Settlement at Charlestown. — Church or- 
ganized at Salem. — Episcopacy expelled. — Cradock's Proposal. — 
John Winthrop. — His Associates. — Transfer of the Charter. — Em- 
igration under Winthrop. — Mortality in the Colony. — Dispersion of 
the Settlers. — A Fast appointed. — Arrival of Supplies. — An Excur- 
b ix 



CONTENTS. 

eion to Plymouth. — New Accessions. — Churches organized. — Admin- 
istration of Governor Winthrop. — Dudley chosen Governor. — Arrival 
of new Emigrants. — Henry Vane. — Chosen Governor. — Opposition. 

— Anne Hutchinson. — Her Popularity. — Charges against her. — A 
Synod convened. — Pate of Mrs. Hutchinson. — Samuel Gorton. — 
His Banishment to Ehode Island. — His Arrest. — Winthrop re-elected. 

— Progress of Settlement. — Connecticut settled. — Hostility of the 
Pequots. — Expedition to Block Island. — Roger WUliams. — His Ban- 
ishment. — His Removal' to Providence. — His Character. — His Inter- 
course with the Indians. — War declared. — Mason's Expedition. — 
Close of the War. 27-63 



CHAPTER III. 

THE CONPEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 

Puritan Legislation. — Limitation of the Elective Franchise. — Oath of 
Allegiance. — House of Representatives established. — The " Body of 
Liberties." — Abstract of the Code. — Morality of the People. — Diffi- 
culties with England. — The Defenders of the Colonies. — Tyranny of 
Charles I. — Appointment of a Special Commission. — Measures of De- 
fence. — Mr. Winslow sent to England. — His Imprisonment. — Disso- 
lution of the New England Council. — A Quo Warranto issued. — In- 
ternal Enemies. — Petition to the King. — The Spirit of Independence. 

— Confederacy proposed. — New Hampshire joined to Massachusetts. 

— Difficulties with the French. — The Conduct of La Tour. — Affray 
with Hocking and D'Auluey. — Condition of the Colonists. — Progress 
of Agriculture. — Commerce and Manufactures. — Education fostered. 

— Harvard College founded. — Its Early History. — Grammar Schools. 

— A Printing Press erected. — Population of New England. — The 
Confederacy of the Colonies. — The Preamble. — Articles of Confed- 
eration. — Voice of Hooker 54-76 



CHAPTER IV. 

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES XL 

Death of Charles I. — Meeting of the Long Parliament. — Political Dis- 
cussions. — Cromwell and the Colonies. — Hostility of the Dutch. — 
The Quakers. — The Era of Persecution/— Accession of Charles II. — 
Addresses sent to England. — The liing's Response. — A Declaration 
of Rights. — Agents visit England. —An alarming Rumor. — Arrival 
of Royal Commissioners. — A Petition to the King. — The Chagrin of 
the Commissioners. — Departure of the Same. — The Defiance of Mas- 
sachusetts. — A Season of Quiet . .77-95 



COA'TENTS. xi 

CHAPTER V. 

KING PHILIP'S WAR. 

The wild Tribes of New England. — Missionary Enterprise. — John Eliot. 

— The Praying Indians. — Philip of Mount Hope. — The War begins. 

— Causes. — Attack on Swanzey. — Movements of the English. — En- 
counter at Brookfield. — Hadley surprised. — Attack on Deerfield. — 
Presh Troops raised. — Attack on Fort Narragansett. — The Lancaster 
Massacre. — Story of Mrs. Rowlandson. — The Defeat of Captain Pierce. 

— Distress of the Indians. — The Contest at Turner's Falls. — Flight 
of Philip. — The Courage of Captain Church. — Death of Philip. — 
End of the War 96-116 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER. 

Prosperity of Massachusetts. — Edmund Randolph. — Complaints of Gorges 
and Mason. — Threats of the King. — Agents sent to England. — A War 
against the Charter. — A Quo Warranto issued. — Accession of James II. 

— Joseph Dudley. — Arrival of Andros. — His arbitrary Government. 

— Accession of William of Orange. — The Tidings reach Boston. — 
Andros imprisoned. — The Province Charter 117-128 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 

Revision of the Colonial Laws. — Sir William Phips. — His Policy. — A 
Party Collision. — Administration of Stoughton. — Administration of 
Bellamont. — Administration of Dudley. — The Unpopularity of Dud- 
ley. — The French in North America. — The Expedition against Port 
Royal. — War declared. — The English at Quebec. — The Valor of Fron- 
tenac. — Attack on Port Royal. — Failure of the Expedition. — The Col- 
onists in Despair. — Ravages of the Indians. — Attack on Haverliill. — 
Story of Hannah Dustin. — The Peace of Ryswick. — Renewal of Hos- 
tilities. — The Conference at Casco. — Attack on Deerfield. — The Wil- 
liams Tragedy. — Second Attack on Haverhill. — A new Expedition 
against the French. — Surrender of Port Royal. — A Fleet arrives at 
Boston. — The Disaster at Quebec. — The Reduction of Canada aban- 
doned 129-153 



xii CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE WITCHCKAFT DELUSION. 

Privations of the Early Settlers. — Evidences of Bewitchment, — The 
Controversy at Salem. — Parris and his Family. — Persecution re- 
newed. — Cotton Mather. — A Court convened. — Progress of the Tri- 
als. — The Story of Mrs. Carey. — Oyer and Terminer Court estab- 
lished. — Susanna Martin. — Rebecca Nurse. — Gallows Hill. — George 
Burroughs. — Other Victims. — Margaret Jacobs and Giles Corey. — 
Sorrow in Salem. — Mather's "Invisible Wonders." — The End of 
Persecution. — The People of Andover. — Parris driven from Salem. 

— The Lesson of the Tragedy 154-174 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 

Money Affairs. — Governor Shute. — The Commerce of Massachusetts. — 
The King's Policy. — Autocracy of England. — A Controversy with the 
Governor. — The Small-pox in Boston. — Hostility of the French. — 
Conflict at Norridgewock. — Death of Sebastian Rasles. — Lovewell's 
Expedition. — Peace declared. — William Dummer. — Governor Bur- 
net. — Opposed by the Legislature. — Dummer's Advice. — Governor 
Belcher. — War between England and Spain. — A fruitless Campaign. 

— Character of Belcher. — Administration of Governor Shirley. — The 
Great Awakening. — George Whitefield. — Renewed Controversies. — 
War with France. — The English at Canseau. — Shirley's Ignorance. — 
The Siege of Louisburg. — Capture of the "Vigilant." — Progress of 
the Siege. — The Surrender of Louisburg. — The Joy of America. — 
The Conquest of Canada proposed. — Disaster to the French Fleet. — 
Capture of Fort Massachusetts by the French. — The Peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle. — Impressment of American Seamen. — The Result. — The 
Census of 1748. — Commercial Wealth of the Province 175-200 

CHAPTER X. 

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 

The Claims of Franco. — The Projects of the English. — Halifax settled. 

— The Ambition of Governor Shirley. — Commencement of Hostilities. 

— George Washington. — The Surrender of Fort Necessity. — The 
Congress of 1754. — Plans of Union. — Character of the Confederacy. 

— Adjournment of the Congress. — Failure of the Plan. — Franklin 
visits Boston. — Correspondence between Shirley and Franklin. — En- 



CONTENTS. xiii 

croaehments of the French. — Forts erected by the Americans. — The 
Conference at Alexandria. — Braddock's Projects for conducting the 
War. — Expedition of Braddock. — Expedition of Shirley. — Expedi- 
tion to Crown Point. — Dieskau sent to America. — Battle of Lake 
George. — Defeat of Dieskau. — Expedition to Nova Scotia. — Move- 
ments of Winslow. — Character of the Acadians. — Kemoval of the 
Acadians. — Position of the Forces. — Conference at New York. — 
Plans of Shirley. — Proceedings of the Legislature of Massachusetts. — 
Proceedings of Parliament. — Recall of Shirley. — The Earl of Lou- 
doun appointed Commander-in-Chief. — Affairs in the Army. — Affairs 
at Oswego. — Fall of Oswego. — Pitt appointed Prime Minister of Eng- 
land. — Pownall appointed Governor of Massachusetts. — Attack on 
Fort William Henry. — Its Capture. — The Americans despondent. — 
Loudoun recalled. — Capture of Louisburg. — Reduction of Fort Du 
Quesne. — Failure of the Crown Point Expedition. — The new Cam- 
paign. — Siege of Fort Niagara. — Crown Point forsaken by the French. 

— Siege of Quebec. — Wolfe and Montcalm. — Surrender of Quebec. 

— Conclusion of the War 201-225 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE STAMP ACT. 

The Prophecy of Charles Davenant. — The Wisdom of Richard Hooker. 

— Contests with the Crown. — Shirley supports the Prerogative. — Bill 
for Strengthening the Same. — A Stamp Tax proposed. — Massachu- 
setts imposes a Stamp Tax. — Bernard appointed Governor. — The 
Work of Abuse. — Otis and his Associates. — Character of Hutchinson. 

— His "History" and "Letters." — Accession of George III. — Trial 
of the Revenue Officers. — Gridley's Argument. — Thacher's Reply. — 
Speech of Otis. — The Opinion of John Adams. — Pitt resigns his Of- 
fice. — The Earl of Egremont his Successor. — Otis's Speech at the 
Close of the French War. — Townshend's Scheme. — Grenville's 
Scheme. — Change in the Ministry. — Advice of the Lords of Trade. 

— The Stamp Act proposed. — Action of the General Court. — Samuel 
Adams. — Address to the House of Commons. — Action of Parliament. 

— The Stamp Act passed. — The News reaches America. — Action of the 
General Court. — The Mutiny Act. — Change in the Ministry. — Oliver 
hung in Effigy. — Proclamation of the Governor. — Hutchinson's House 
attacked. — Another Change in the Ministry. — Message of the Gover- 
nor. — Views of John Adams. — Congress at New York. — Course of 
the British Ministry. — The First of November. — Oliver resigns his 
Office. — The Repeal of the Stamp Act proposed. — Speech of Pitt. — 
Speech of Grenville. — Reply of Pitt. — Examination of Franklin. — 
Debate on the Repeal. — The Stamp Act repealed 226-256 



xiv CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XII. 

MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 

Celebration of the Repeal of the Stamp Act. — Changes in the British 
Ministry. — Pitt created Earl of Chatham. — Affairs in England. — 
Course of Townshend. — Course of Shelburne. — Course of the French 
Minister. — The Revenue Bill. — Public Spirit in America. — Course of 
tlie Boston Merchants. — Proceedings of the General Court. — Course 
of Hutchinson. — Impressment of Seamen. — Seizure of the "Liber- 
ty." — A Town-meeting called. — Address to the Governor. — Arrival 
of Troops in Boston. — The King's Speech. — Debates in Parliament. 

— A new Legislature convened. — Controversy with the Governor. — 
Close of Bernard's Administration. — Hutchinson appointed Governor. 

— Speech of Pitt. — Speech of Camden. — Reply of Lord North. — 
Affairs in Boston. — Murder of Snider. — The Boston Massacre. — 
Meeting of the Citizens. — Trial of the Soldiers. — The Responsible 
Parties 257-277 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 

The American Question in Parliament. — The Controversy with Hutch- 
inson. — Burke's Resolves. — The General Court prorogued. — A Sea- 
son of Quiet. — Samuel Adams. — The Foundation for American 
Union. — Revenue Projects. — The Third of November. — A Conven- 
tion in Faneuil Hall. — A Meeting in the Old South. — The Boston Tea- 
party. — The Debates in Parliament. — Arrival of General Gage. — 
Departure of tlie Governor. — A Plan for Union. — The Continental 
Congress. — A Provincial Congress organized. — The Last Appeal of 
Chatham 278-298 

CHAPTER XIV. 

LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 

Proceedings of the Committees of Safety. — The Movements of Gage. — 
Paul Revere. — Hancock and Adams. — March of the British. — The 
Yeomanry of Lexington. — The Massacre on Lexington Common. — 
The Alarm in Concord. — Assembling of the Militia. — Arrival of the 
British. — Captain Timothy Wheeler. — Fight at the Old North Bridge. 

— Retreat of the Enemy. — Skirmishing. — The British re-enforced. 

— The Halt at Bunker mil. — The Roll of Honor 299-310 



CONTENTS. XV 



CHAPTER XV. 

BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 

Meeting of the Provincial Congress. — Preparing for War. — Washington 
chosen Commander-in-Chief. — Movements of the British. — Prescott 
ordered to Bunker Hill. — The March. — Fortifications raised. — The 
Morning of the 17th of June. — Gage holds a Council of War. — ' 
The British Advance. — Position of the Americans. — The First At- 
tack. — The Second Attack. — The Burning of Charlestown. — The 
Third Attack. — Retreat of the Americans. — Death of Warren. — 
Gage's Proclamation. — Washington in Cambridge. — Nevr Fortifica- 
tions raised. — The News reaches England. — Distress of the British 
Army. — Dorchester Heights fortified. — Howe's Chagrin. — The Sev- 
entli of March. — Evacuation of Boston. — Condition of the Metrop- 
olis 311-331 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

Boston Harbor fortified. — Action of the General Court. — Fresh Troops 
required. — The Resolutions of the Seventh of June. — The Declara- 
tion of Independence. — Speech of John Adams. — The Debate in Con- 
gress. — The Final Vote. — Adoption of the Declaration. — How re- 
ceived by tlie People. — Affairs in the Autumn. — Paper Money issued. 

— The Naval Armament of Massachusetts. — Success of the British 
Army. — Surrender of General Burgoyne. — A Tax levied. — AflTairs in 
Rhode Island. — A Desire for Peace. — The New Year. — The Penob- 
scot Expedition. — Complaints of the People. — Overtures for Peace. 

— Negotiation. — Close of the War 332-346 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 

Proceedings of the General Court. — A Convention at Cambridge. — The 
Interests of Science. — The Dark Day. — The National Bank. — The 
Massachusetts Mint. — Establishment of the Supreme Judicial Court. 

— Slavery in Massachusetts. — Election of Governor Bowdoin. — The 
Portland Convention. — Harvard College favored. — A Dispute settled. 

— Society at the Close of the Revolution. — Habits of the People. — 
The Country Folk. — The first Play-house erected. — Manner of Dress, 

— The Census of 1784 347-363 



xvi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

SHAYS' REBELLION. 

Massachusetts at the Close of the War. — Great Excitement. — The Hat- 
field Convention. — The Courts Interrupted. — The Spirit of Insurrec- 
tion. — The Militia ordered out. — Daniel Shays. — Proceedings of the 
General Court. — Warrants issued. — Fresh Troops raised. — The Con- 
test at Springfield. — Pursuit of the Insurgents. — Indemnity prom- 
ised. — General Lincoln's Letter. — Close of the Rebellion. — Re-elec- 
tion of Governor Hancock 364-375 

CHAPTER XIX. 

ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 

The Philadelphia Convention. — A Constitution discussed. — Presented 
to Congress. — The Massachusetts Convention. — A long Discussion. — 
Debate on the Slavery Question. — Speech of General Heath. — The 
Constitution ratified. — Amendments drawn up. — Inauguration of 
President Washington. — His Visit to New England. — The Federal- 
ists and the Anti-federalists. — Proceedings of the General Congress. — 
Confidence regained. — Internal Improvements. — Governor Adams. — 
France and the United States. — Citizen Genet. — John Jay. — Treaty 
with Great Britain. — Opposition to the Same. — Washington's Reply. 

— The Treaty ratified. — Election of Governor Sumner. — President 
Adams. — Commissioners sent to France. — The Negotiation. — A War 
commenced. — Death of Governor Sumner. — Election of Caleb Strong. 

— President Jefferson. — James Sullivan. — Party Feelings. — An Em- 
bargo laid. — President Madison. — Levi Lincoln. — Christopher Gore. 

— Election of Governor Gerry 376-396 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE WAR OF 1812. 

The Policy of the General Government. — Message of Governor Gerry. 

— Re-election of Caleb Strong. — " Gerrymandering." — Causes of Con- 
troversy. — Madison's Message. — War declared against Great Britain. 

— Opposition of Massachusetts. — Address of the Senate. — Address 
of the House. — Correspondence between Governor Strong and Gen- 
eral Dearborn. — Madison's System of Impressment. — Progress of the 
War. — The Hartford Convention. — Peace declared. — Industry in 
Massachusetts. — Election of Governor Brooks. — Maine becomes a 
State. — The Revision of the State Constitution 397-410 



CONTENTS. xvii 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE ERA OF POLITICS. 

The Missouri Question. — The "Missouri Compromise." — Census of 1820. 

— Pauperism discussed. — Daniel Webster. — Election of Governor Eus- 
tis. — Election of President Adams. — Levi Lincoln Governor. — His 
prosperous Administration. — A Lunatic Hospital established. — The 
Fiftietla Anniversary of Bunker Hill Battle. — Death of John Adams. — 
Webster elected to Congress. — The " Republican " Party. — Speech 
of Webster. — Election of President Jackson. — The "National Republi- 
can " Party. — Election of Governor Davis. — A dastardly Outrage. — 
An Indignation Meeting. — The Democratic Party. — Anti-Masonry. — 
Van Buren President. — Governor Everett 411-425 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 

Governor Everett's Administration. — Normal Schools. — The Western 
Railroad. — Rise of the Slavery Question. — The " Specie Circular." — 
Harvard College. — Administration of Governor Morton. — The Latimer 
Slave Case. — The North-Eastern Boundary Dispute. — Political Con- 
ventions. — Webster's Apology. — Election of Governor Briggs. — The 
Berkshire Jubilee. — The "Liberal Party." — Affairs in the General 
Court. — The Mexican War. — Charles Sumner. — Education fostered. 

— Address of Governor Briggs. — Death of John Quincy Adams. — The 
Water Supply of Boston. — The Webster-Parkman Murder. — Close of 
the Administration 426-455 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 

Election of President Taylor.— The "Free Soil" Party. —The Coalition 
of 1850. — Administration of Governor Boutwell. — The "Fugitive 
Slave Bill." — Speech of Charles Sumner. — Election of Sumner to 
the United States Senate. — The Sims Case. — Visit of Kossuth. — 
Death of Daniel Webster. — Politics. — Election of Governor Clifford. 

— Everett chosen United States Senator. — The Labor Question. — 
Revision of the State Constitution. — Election of Governor Washburn. 

— The Burns Case. — The Kansas-Nebraska Bill. — Party Politics. — 
Election of Governor Gardner. — Henry Wilson elected to the United 
States Senate. — Know-Nothingism. — Assault on Senator Sumner. — 



xviii CONTENTS, 

Election of President Buchanan. — Governor Banks. — Prosperity of 
the State. — The "Personal Liberty" Act. — Election of Governor 
Andrew. — His Inaugural Address. — War inevitable 456-487 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

Inauguration of President Lincoln. — Fall of Fort Sumter. — Call for 
Volunteers. — The Response of Massachusetts. — The Three Months' 
Regiments. — Their Record. — Another call for Volunteers. — An extra 
Session of the Legislature. — Departure of the Three Years' Regiments. 

— The Battle of Ball's Bluff. — Proceedings of the Maryland Legisla- 
ture. — Re-election of Governor Andrew. — The Spring of 18G2. — 
Position of the Massachusetts Troops. — The third Call for Troops. — 
New Regiments recruited. — The Battle of Antietam. — The Emancipa- 
tion Proclamation issued. — The colored Troops. —The Nine Months' 
Regiments. — Riot in Boston. — Party Conventions. — Re-election of 
Governor Andrew. — More Troops wanted. — Speech of Governor 
Andrew. — Progress of the War. — Re-election of President Lincoln. 

— Re-election of Governor Andrew. — Death of Edward Everett. — 
Surrender of General Lee. — Death of President Lincoln. — Close of 
the War. — Inauguration of Governor Bullock 488-527 

CHAPTER XXV. 

SINCE THE WAR. 

The Legislature of 1866. — The Militia Act. — The Hoosac Tunnel. — 
Debate on the Liquor Question. — Grant to the Troy and Greenfield 
Railroad. — Debt of the State. — Revival of the Liquor Question. — The 
Troy and Greeiifield Railroad. — The Hoosac Tunnel. — Election of 
Governor Claflin. — Proceedings of the Legislature. — The "Peace 
Jubilee." — Party Conventions. — Continued Discussion of the Liquor 
Question. — The Prohibitory Law amended. — The Hartford and Erie 
Railroad. — The Legislature of 1871. — The Autumn Campaign. — Elec- 
tion of Governor Washburn. — The Legislature of 1872. — Political 
Conventions. — Election of President Grant. — The "World's Peace 
Jubilee." — The Boston Conflagration. — Proceedings of the Legisla- 
ture. — Election of Ex-Govcrnor Boutwcll to the United States Senate. 

— The Liquor Question. — Legislature of 1873. — Boston enlarged. — 
Politics. — Death of Senator Sumner. — Election of Senator Washburn. 

— The Mill River Disaster. — Politics. — Legislature of 1875. — Election 
of Senator Dawes. — Lexington and Concord Centennial. — Bunker Hill 
Centennial. — Cambridge Centennial. — ^ Politics. — Election of Governor 
Rice. — Death of Vice President Wilson. — Conclusion 528-566 



CONTENTS. xix 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE ERA OF REFORM. 

The Session of 1876. — The Political Canvass. — State and National 
Elections. — The Senatorial Contest of 1877. — Legislative Affairs. — 
Public Charities and Reformatory Institutions. — The New Canvass 
and its Issues. — The Marblehead Fire. — Reduced Taxation. — The 
Employment of Minors. — Political Movements. — The Elections of 
1879. — The Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity. — Amendment to 
the Constitution. — Further Reduction of the State Tax. — The 
Woman Question. — National Affairs. — The Boston Celebration. — 
The Year 1881. — A Senatorial Election. — The Liquor Problem. — 
The Haverhill Conflagration. — The Webster Celebration, — The 
Administration of Governor Butler. — The Tewksbuiy Investigation. 
— The Political Fever of 1883. — Inauguration of Governor Robin- 
son 567-584 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



STEEL PORTRAITS. 

John Hancock 

George D. Robinson 

FULL-PAGE WOOD-CUTS. 
Samoset and the Pilgrims .... 

Treaty of Massasoit with Governor Carver 
The Miles Standish House, Duxbury 
The Miles Standish Monument, Duxbury 

Governor Winthrop 

The Conflict . . . . . 

Castle Island 

Death of King Philip 

Hannah Dustin at the Massacre . 

Liberty Tree 

Paul Revere 

The Battle of Lexington . . . . . 

Benjamin Franklin 

Normal School, Framingham .... 
Normal School, Bridgewater .... 

Daniel Webster 

Normal School, Westfield .... 

State House 

Normal School, Salem 

Normal School, Worcester .... 

Boston Fire 

Boston-fire Ruins 

Residence of Henry Wilson, Natick 

The Danvers Hospital 



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THE 

HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 

At the close of the sixteenth century, four rehgious 
parties existed in England. The Catholics, or adherents of 
the church of Rome, were still powerful in certain localities. 
The Protestant element was divided into three sects — the 
Anglicans, or members of the English church ; the Puritans, 
or non-conformists, who differed from the former only in 
a disregard of special rites and observances; and the Inde- 
pendents, or Separatists, who refused to sanction the found- 
ing of a national church, on the ground that it was purely 
contrary to the Word of God. In the minds of all classes 
a sort of mutual hatred had arisen, and heated controversies 
soon resulted in the most bitter persecutions. Had not 
these evils become unbearable to the weaker sects, hun- 
dreds would not so willingly have forsaken the land of their 
nativity and taken refuge across the sea. 

After the death of Elizabeth, in 1603, James I. ascended 
the throne. His want of personal dignity, his coarse 
1 1 



2 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

buffoonery, liis drunkenness, his contemptible cowardice, 
were only partially offset by his natural ability, his ripe 
schq^rship, his fund of shrewdness, his mother-wit, and 
his ready repartee. Always a pedant, he had also a pedant's 
temper, and a pedant's inability to reconcile theories with 
actual facts. He believed, for instance, in the divine right 
of kings, and that a monarch was free from all control by 
law, or from responsibility to anything but his own royal 
will. This notion, founded on a blunder, was quite new 
to his people ; but, nevertheless, it became the basis of a 
system of government, a doctrine which bishops preached 
from the pulpits, and which the Established Church wafe not 
Blow to adopt. 

Before his accession to the throne. King JameS had always 
professed a sincere regard for the teachings of Knox, and 
his open declarations naturally aroused the hopes of the 
Puritan sect. Ere long, however, he showed himself a 
dissembler. Behind his intellectual convictions lay a host 
of prejudices, and it was plain to discern that his favorite 
religion was that which most favored his ideas of " absolute 
monarchy." The Puritans dared to dispute his boasted 
infallibility, and to denounce ceremonies, which, it Was 
alleged, " had authority in the writings of the Fathers." 
For this reason the king turned himself against them, 
swearing either to " make them conform " or to " harry 
them out of the kingdom." "No bishop, 'no king," was 
his motto ; and he declared he would have only " one doc- 
trine and one discipline, one religion in substance and in 
ceremony." ^ 

While men were dwelling ominously on the claims of 
absolutism in church and state, which were constantly on 

' Sanderson, James I., 303. 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 3 

the royal lips, the Parliament of 1604 was convened. Three 
fourths of the House of Commons were in sympathy with 
the Puritans, and the energy which characterized their action 
showed plainly that the insolence of the sovereign had pro- 
voked the temper of the nation at large. In his opening 
address, the king acknowledged the Roman to be his mother 
church, though defiled by " new and gross corruptions," and 
branded the Puritans as " a sect insufferable in a well-gov- 
erned commonwealth." . In July, a proclamation was issued 
compelling " all curates and lecturers to conform strictly to 
the rubrics of the prayer-book on pain of deprivation." 
In consequence of this edict, many subjects of the realm, 
fleeing " a tyrant's and a bigot's bloody laws," quitted for- 
ever the land of their birth. 

The Independents suffered equally with the Puritans. 
The churches which they had established at Scrooby and 
Gainsborough were broken up. The first attempt of the 
members at flight was defeated ; and when they made 
another, their wives and children were seized at the very 
moment of departure. At length, however, the magis- 
trates were " glad to be rid of them at any price," and the 
fugitives arrived safely at Amsterdam, whence, shortly after- 
wards, they removed to Leyden, '* a fair and beautiful city, 
and of a sweet situation." Of this small company — who 
" knew they were Pilgrims, and looked not much on those 
things, but lifted up their eyes to heaven, their dearest 
country, and quieted their spirits," — the proudest pedigree 
is Massachusetts and America.^ 

For several years the exiles remained in Leyden in undis- 
turbed quiet. Still, they felt that they were strangers in a 
strange land. The " hardness of the place " made toil 

' Bradford, in Chron. Pilgrim., 87. Baylies, Plym. Col., i. 11. 



4 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

severe ; the infirmities of old age crept on too soon ; the 
young people were growing up amid corrupting influences, 
and without the means of obtaining an education ; and, 
finally, the outlook betokened gloomy aspects for the future. 
These were potent, but not the chief, causes which prompted 
a speedy removal. The Pilgrims cherished a " great hope 
and inward zeal of laying some good foundation for the 
propagating and advancing of the gospel of the kingdom 
of Christ in remote parts of the world ; yea, though they 
should be but as stepping-stones to others for performing of 
so great a work." ^ 

But whither should they go ? Surely, not back to Eng- 
land, where the darkest hour of Protestantism was swiftly 
approaching ; nor to Virginia, whence had recently come 
tidings of extreme suffering. In the words of Canning, 
they resolved, however, to turn " to the New World to 
redress the balance of the Old ; " and in the wilds of 
America they hoped to plant an equality of rights and 
a religious freedom. " We are well weaned," wrote John 
Robinson, their pastor, " from the delicate milk of the 
mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a strange 
land ; the people are industrious and frugal. We are knit 
together as a body in a most sacred covenant of the Lord, 
of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by 
virtue whereof we hold ourselves strictly tied to all care 
of each other's good and of the whole. It is not with us 
as with men whom small things can discourage." ^ 

The die was cast, and agents were at once sent to England 
to negotiate with the Virginia Company for a grant of land 
whereon they might " live in a distinct body by themselves," 

> Hubbard, Mass., 42. Chron. Pilgrim., 44-48. 
* Chron. Pilgrim., CO. 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 5 

and to "solicit of the king liberty of conscience." After 
tedious delays, a patent was obtained, together with the 
king's verbal promise that he would " not molest them, 
provided they conducted themselves peaceably." Next were 
put forth efforts to increase the common fund, and to secure 
the necessary means of 'transportation. Only the youngest 
and strongest were to be the " pioneers of the church," 
while the eldest and weakest were hoping to follow them 
at some future time. Two vessels were chartered, one the 
" Speedwell," of sixty tons, in Holland, and the other the 
" Mayflower," of one hundred and eighty tons, being pro- 
cured in England. The poverty of the Pilgrims is strikingly 
illustrated by the fact that the whole cost of the undertaking 
did not exceed twelve thousand dollars ! 

On the day preceding that of the departure of the Pil- 
grims from Holland, Mr. Robinson discoursed some worthy 
advice to the founders of New England. When the sermon 
was ended, there was a feast at the pastor's house. Then 
farewells were said, and the emigrants hastily withdrew to 
Delfthaven to embark on board the Speedwell. " The 
last night," says one of their number, " was passed with 
little sleep by the most, but with friendly entertainment and 
Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Chris- 
tian love." On the 22d of July, 1620, the Pilgrims, "lifting 
up their hands to each other and their hearts for each other 
to the Lord God," sailed for Southampton, where the May- 
flower was waiting them.^ 

Before following them farther, we ought first to recall 
some of the earlier attempts to colonize North America. 
The discovery of the New World promised little for free- 
dom ; and its foremost result, indeed, was to give an enor- 

• Chron. rilgrim., 384; also idem^ 88. 



6 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

mous impulse to the most bigoted and tyrannical of the Con- 
tinental powers, and to pour the wealth of Mexico and Peru 
into the treasury of Spain. But while the Spanish galleons 
traversed the southern seas, and Spanish settlers claimed 
the southern part of the great continent for the Catholic 
crown, the truer instinct of Englishmen drew them to 
the ruder and more barren districts along the shores of 
North America. Two years before Columbus reached the 
actual mainland of America, a Venetian merchant, John 
Cabot, sailing from Bristol in England, had landed among 
the icy solitudes of Labrador. In the following year, 
his son, Sebastian Cabot, departing from the same port, 
pushed south as far as Maryland, and north as high as Hud- 
son's Bay. After a long interval, in which the western 
world was well nigh forgotten, Englishmen turned again 
to the discoveries of the Cabots. In 1584, Sir Walter 
Raleigh, having obtained a patent from Elizabeth, de- 
spatched two ships under Captains Amidas and Barlow. 
The expedition explored Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds 
and Roanoke Island, and then returned home with glowing 
accounts of a country where " men lived after the manner 
of the Golden Age." In the next year, Raleigh fitted out 
seven ships and one hundred and eight colonists to make 
a settlement. But the attempt proved a failure, and thus 
the century closed without witnessing a single permanent 
English colony in America. 

In the year 1606, however, James I. granted charters to 
two companies, which had organized " for trade, settlement, 
and government " — the London and the Plymouth Compa- 
nies. Three ships, in the succeeding year, were sent out by 
the London Company to plant a colony in Virginia. In the 
month of April they sailed up the James River, named after 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 7 

their king, and in May landed and founded their colony 
at Jamestown. The}'" already knew that the secret of the 
conquest of the New World lay simply in labor ; and acting 
on this conviction, " the men fell to building houses and 
planting corn." Thus the laws and representative institu- 
tions of England were first introduced into the New 
World. 

To return, now, to our main subject. Two weeks after 
their arrival at Southampton, the Pilgrims hoisted sail and 
started on the voyage westward. Scarcely had they lost 
sight of land, when the Speedwell sprung a leak, and was 
obliged to put into Plymouth. " By the consent of the 
whole company " she was dismissed from service ; and . all 
but twenty of her passengers were transferred to the May- 
flower. On the 6th of September the Mayflower, having, 
on board one hundred passengers, and with the wind " east- 
north-east, a fine small gale," again put out to sea. 

For sixty-three days the ship, "freighted with the desti- 
nies of a continent," pursued its onward course. Fair 
weather was ere long followed by fierce winds and storms. 
Several of the passengers fell sick, and two were removed 
by death. To Stephen Hopkins was born a son, christened 
" Oceanus," who survived only a short season. On the 
9th of November the sandy cliffs of Cape Cod were 
descried by the voyagers ; and after beating about for some 
time, the ship came to anchor in Cape Cod harbor, when, 
falling upon their knees, the Pilgrims "blessed the Lord, 
the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast 
and furious ocean, and delivered them from all perils and 
miseries therein." Before going ashore, the following com- 
pact was drawn up and signed by all the male members of 
the company, who were of age : — 



8 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are 
under-written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign 
lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, 
France, and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, &c., hav- 
ing undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of 
the Christian faith and honor of our King and country, a 
voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of 
Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in 
the presence of God and one another, covenant and com- 
bine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our 
better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the 
ends aforesaid, and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, 
and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, con- 
stitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought 
most meet and convenient for the general good of the 
colony ; unto which we promise all due submission and 
obedience. In witness whereof, we have hereunder sub- 
scribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, 
in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord. King James, 
of England, France, and Ireland, the 18th, and of Scot- 
land the 54th, A. D. 1620." i 

On this and succeeding days parties were sent out from 
the ship to explore the country. Already the snow cov- 
ered the earth, and it was thus with endless difficulty that 
they succeeded in picking out their way. At length, hav- 
ing formed some satisfactory notion of the locality, and 
eager to exchange the sea iox terra firma^ the Pilgrims, on 
Monday, the 11th day of December, old style, effected 
a landing upon Forefather's Rock. On the 20th the 
settlement at Plymouth was commenced, and on the fol- 
lowing daj's a fort, a storehouse, and shelter for the fami- 

' Chron. Pilgrim., 121. Hubbard, 63, 62. Forty-one signed the compact. 




SAMOSET AND THE PILGRIMS. 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 9 

lies, were erected. These buildings were of the simplest 
construction, and all were fashioned " of logs, with the 
interstices filled with sticks and clay ; the roofs were cov- 
ered with thatch ; the chimneys were of fragments of wood, 
plastered with clay ; and oiled paper served as a substitute 
for glass for the inlet of light." ^ 

The first winter passed by these colonists in America 
was marked by unprecedented suffering, and in less than 
four months forty-four had died. In a small burial-ground, 
on Cole's Hill, the survivors laid away their fallen friends, 
and carefully levelled and sowed with grain the earth that 
rested upon them. Brave and resolute men still lingered 
behind. There were Carver, Bradford, Brewster, Standish, 
Winslow, and others. Female fortitude and submission, 
also, were not wanting ; and there, too, was " chilled and 
shivering childhood, houseless but for a mother's arms, 
couchless but for a mother's breast." From a "land to 
• which they were never to return" the Pilgrims had come; 
and " hither they had brought, and here they were to fix, 
their hopes and their affections."^ 

The spring of 1621 dawned at length, and the heart- 
rending trials of the first winter had well nigh ceased. 
One March day a solitary Indian savage approached the 
settlement, and bade the Pilgrims, " Welcome." This was 
Samoset, who had come from the eas];ern coast, " of which 
he gave profitable information." ■ He gave the English 
many facts relative to the surraunding regions and the 
wild tribes which peopled them, and said that the place 
of settlement which they had named Plymouth, "in mem- 
ory of the hospitalities which the company had received at 
the last English port from whicli they had sailed," was by 

' Barry, Hist, of Mass., i. 90. " Everett's Plymouth Address. 

2 



10 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the natives called Patuxet. Two days later, on the 18th, 
Samoset reappeared with five companions, all of whom 
" made semblance of friendship, ate liberally of the English 
victuals, and sang and danced after their manner like an- 
tics." Before the month had closed, Massasoit, the chief 
of the Wampanoags, possessing the country north of Nar- 
ragansett Bay, came in and was received with open hos- 
pitality by the settlers, who, including both wives and 
children, now numbered not more than fifty. A league of 
peace was at once concluded, which was kept inviolate for 
more than half a century. The "sachem" acknowledged 
himself " content to become the subject of King James, and 
gave unto " the colonists and their " heirs all the adjacent 
lands."! 

One of the earliest proceedings of the colony was the 
institution of a local government. Measures of self-defence 
had already been taken, and Captain Miles Standish had 
been intrusted with " authority of command in affairs." 
Several "laws and orders" were now passed, and John 
Carver was chosen governor. As the season advanced, the 
settlers turned their attention to the means of future sup- 
port. Twenty acres of land were planted with corn and 
beans, and six acres with peas and barley. While thus 
toihng, fresh evils beset the patient laborers. On the day 
following the return of the Mayflower to England, — April 
G, — Governor Carver, a man " of a public spirit as well 
as of a public purse," was seized with illness while at work 
in the fields, and died a few hours afterwards. On his 
.first landing he had lost a son, and his broken-hearted 
wife soon followed him in death. William Bradford, who 
became the historian of the colony, was appointed as the 

' Morton's Mem., 23, 24. Chron. Pilgrim., 180-195. 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. \\ 

successor of Governor Carver. His first official act was to 
send an embassy to Massasoit, in order " to discover the 
country, and to strengthen and estabhsh the league which 
had been formed with him." 

At this time the "Massachusetts" tribe of Indians, 
whose capital was at Shawmut, now Boston, held a wide 
sway. To this tribe a trading expedition of ten men, under 
the command of Standish, was sent in September. They 
proceeded from Plymouth, in a shallop, to the " bottom of 
the bay," — probably near Squantum, — thence, by a cir- 
cuitous route, they reached the site of Charlestown. But 
their provisions soon gave out, and the explorers were 
obliged to return home, " with a considerable quantity of 
beaver, and a good report of the place." 

The labors of the spring were rewarded by a bounteous 
harvest in the autumn. There was an abundance of wild 
fruits in store, and a large quantity of game had been 
brought in. An invitation was sent to Massasoit and his 
warriors to feast with the Pilgrims " after a special man- 
ner ; " and on the appointed day the festival of Thaiiks- 
giving was instituted, and both hosts and guests partook of 
venison, wild turkeys, water-fowl, and other choice delica- 
cies. It was now the month of November ; and just a year 
had gone by since th^ passengers in the Mayflower had 
first sighted the cliffs of Cape Cod. At this time the " vil- 
lage " of Plymouth could boast of seven dwelling-houses ; 
while of the original number of human souls that had land- 
ed on the Rock, just one half had been gathered within 
their graves. In the solitude of primeval forests the sur- 
vivors still found courage to lay the corner-stone of Ameri- 
can nationality.^ 

» Chron. Pilgrim., 231. 



12 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

On the anniversary of their arrival, an unknown bark 
was descried hovering around Cape Cod. It was the " For- 
tune," with thirty-five souls, "all in health," on board. 
The new-comers were warmly welcomed at Plymouth ; but 
more pleasing was the letter which they brought with them 
from England — a new patent, " better than the former, 
with less limitation," from the Council for New England. 
This charter, it may here be said, is the oldest state paper 
in existence in Massachusetts. 

After the Fortune had returned to England, the sad dis- 
covery was made that the supply of food on hand could 
not last longer than six months, " even at half-allowance.'* 
To add to the deplorable situation, the Narragansetts began 
to assume- an attitude of defiance. At the*opening of the 
new year — 1622 — a war-challenge ■ was actually received 
from Canonicus, the sachem of the tribe, in the shape of a 
bundle of arrows wrapped in the skin of a rattlesnake. 
Governor Bradford, having stuffed the skin with powder 
and ball, sent it back with a message, saying that if Ca- 
nonicus " desired war rather than peace, he might begin 
whenever he pleased ; they were ready to receive him." 
This bold rejoinder produced the desired effect, and the 
sachem thought no more of hostilities. Nevertheless, the 
colonists, conscious of their own weakness, resolved to 
strengthen their means of defence.^ 

In the month of April, while a second trading expedition 
*' to the Massachusetts," was being planned, the startling 
announcement was made that the Narragansetts had leagued 
with Massasoit for the purpose of exterminating the 
English. Hobomok, an Indian guide in the employ of the 
colonists, refused to give credit to this intelligence, and 

> Chron. Pilgrim., 283. Hubbard, 69. 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 13 

" expressed his willingness to vouch for the fidelity of 
Massasoit." It soon transpired that Hobomok was right 
in his belief, and that nothing of evil had been pre- 
meditated against the colony. Thus encouraged, Captain 
Standish and his party resumed their journey. Meanwhile, 
Massasoit himself, having learned of the apprehensions of 
his English allies, arrived at Plymouth, and demanded 
the surrender of Tisquantum, — an Indian guide, who had 
fasely accused the great chief of treachery, — in order that 
he might be put to death. Governor Bradford, who highly 
esteemed the services of Tisquantum, refused to give him 
up. At length, however, it was found that the " propriety 
of the claim in accordance with the treaty could not be 
disputed ; " and, accordingly, the perjurer was surrendered 
to his doom. As the fatal moment drew nigh, " a boat 
was espied, which crossed before the town, and disappeared 
behind a headland ; and the governor availing himself of 
this incident to justify delay, the messengers " of Massasoit, 
"mad with rage," departed, and Tisquantum escaped. 

Towards the last of May, tidings were brought in that 
a fishing-vessel, the " Sparrow," was anchored off Damarin's 
Cove, near Monhegan. As the colonists were wholly with- 
out provisions, they regarded the intelligence of good omen. 
Mr. Edward Winslow was despatched to the vessel, and 
found that it had been sent out by Messrs. Weston and 
Beauchamp, English merchants and adventurers. He was 
graciously received by the captain of the vessel, and was 
furnished "with a sufficiency of bread to allow each person 
four ounces per day until harvest." By strict economy 
and by subsisting often on "muscles and clams," the colo- 
nists began to grow better in their condition. But another 
draught of misery was in s^ore for them. 



14 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Before the days of July had vanished, two ships belong- 
ing to "Master Weston" came to Plymouth. They car- 
ried on board nearly sixty men, the nucleus of a small 
colony. " They are no men for us," remarked Mr. Cush- 
man ; and even Master "Weston himself pronounced them 
" rude and profane fellows." If we may safely judge from 
all accounts, they were not only irreligious, but also dissolute 
and thievish. The Pilgrims had as little as possible to do 
with them ; and, after a brief stay in the neighborhood, 
the adventurers, having already obtained a patent of land, 
departed, and made a settlement at Wessagusset, now 
Weymouth. This was the first plantation established in 
Boston harbor. 

These men thought to live without thrift, and placed all 
their faith in luxury and carousal. As a. consequence, 
extreme suffering fell upon the colony, and soon its 
members were compelled to seek aid from Plymouth, by 
offering the use of one of their vessels in procuring supplies. 
After several fruitless attempts in this direction. Governor 
Bradford, having taken command of the ship, undertook to 
voyage " to the southward of Cape Cod." He landed at 
Monamoycke, now Chatham, and purchased of the Indians 
eight hogsheads of corn and beans. At Nauset and at 
Barnstable additional supplies were procured. Upon return- 
ing, the cargo of the " Swan " was equally divided between 
the colonists of Plymouth and Wessagusset. 

A little later it was announced that Massasoit was danger- 
ously ill. Ere messengers could reach him, the intelligence 
was received that the great chief was dead. But this was 
not the truth. As soon as the messengers reached the 
abode of the sachem, Mr. Edward Winslow and his com- 
panions administered " a con&ction of many comfortable 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 15 

conserves." On the next day the chief had much improved 
in health, and was able to exclaim, " Now I see the Eng- 
lish are my friends, and love me ; and whilst^ I live I will 
never forget this kindness they have showed me." Before 
the messengers were read}'' ,to return home, Massasoit advised 
Hobomok of a plot against the English, and bade him to 
admonish the colonists " to slay the conspirators " without 
delay.^ 

By the 23d of March, 1623, everybody in Plymouth was 
apprised of the impending hostilities, — which, it appears, had 
been provoked by the injustice of the Wessagusset colonists 
towards the Indians, — and Captain Standish, with a party 
of men, was sent to warn the former of their danger. 
Scarcely had he reached the settlement when the Indians 
came in sight, and began to hover around. One of them, 
as if suspecting that the plot had been discovered, approached 
Hobomok, and said, " Tell your captain we know what 
he has come for, but fear him not, neither will we shun 
him. Let him begin when he dare, he shall not take us 
unawares." Standish, although " angry in his heart," dis- 
covered no signs of rage, and waited until the conspirators, 
whom he recognized, were together. His own men, well 
armed, were ready for action. At a given signal, the 
door of the house — in which all had met as if for a parley 
— was closed, and a frightful conflict opened. One after 
another of the villains fell dead ; their comrades were 
completely routed, and victory declared for the English. 
When the scene had ended, some of the rescued sailed 
in a ship for Monhegan, and soon afterwards for England. 
The remainder followed Standish to Plymouth. When the 
allies of the Massachusetts tribe heard of this proceeding, 

* Hubbard, 77, alleges that "Weston's men provoked the conspiracy. 



16 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

"they forsook their houses, running to and fro like men 
distracted, living in swamps and other desert places, and 
so brought manifold diseases among themselves," whereof 
many died.^ 

Thus one short year witnessed the beginning and the end- 
ing of the Wessagusset colony. Behold the sequel. Soon a 
wanderer approaches Monhegan. Embarking in a shallop, 
he is wrecked near the Merrimack. Indian savages rob him 
of his clothing ; but he escapes with his life, and craves a 
shelter at Plymouth. So wretched a man " the sun never 
shone upon." And yet this is Master Weston, the Merchant 
Adventurer, " the • companion of nobles, the founder of 
colonies"! His fate teaches a moral. "When," says 
Hubbard, " men are actuated by private interest, and are 
eager to carry on particular designs of their own, it is the 
bane of all generous and noble enterprises, and is very 
often rewarded with dishonor and disadvantage to the 
undertakers." ^ 

In midsummer, 1623, Captain Francis West, having been 
commissioned by the king Admiral of New England, and 
instructed to restrain all unlicensed vessels from fishing 
upon the northern coast of America, entered upon his 
official duties. But, unhappil}-, he found the fishermen 
" too stubborn to submit to his authority, and the ocean 
too wide to be under his surveillance ; " and, having re- 
linquished his undertaking and discharged his vessel, he left 
for England. Forthwith the question arose as to whether 
the king had any right to interpose his authority in this 
matter. JNIasters of vessels regarded the interference as 
prompted by a monstrous assumption, and speedily peti- 
tioned Parliament for a redress of their grievances. The 

■ Winslow, iu Cliron. Filgrira., 345. * Barry, i. 118. Hubbard, 72. 



THE .PLYMOUTH COLONY. 17 

former claimed that no restrictions wKatever ought to be 
laid npon the fisheries. The king remained inflexible, 
while the Commons, regardless of the fact that the New 
England Council had always exercised a monopoly in 
American waters, refused to coincide with him. The sub- 
ject was given long consideration, and a bill revoking the 
restrictions was passed, which the king reluctantly signed. 
But the proceeding gave cause for a quarrel which lasted 
through very many years. As one of its immediate results, 
" the fishery at the banks was suddenly and disastrously 
checked, the number of vessels diminishing in five years 
from four hundred to "one hundred and fifty ; and in the 
excitement which prevailed, those merchants who had 
purchased Monhegan, and furnished it with stores, sold 
their property, and withdrew from the business." 

From the beginning of this year, the condition in which 
the colonists found themselves was most painful. Indeed, 
during the spring they were actually reduced to want ; 
and " by the time their corn was planted, their victuals 
were spent, and they knew not at night where to have a 
bit in the morning ; nor had they corn or bread for three 
or four months together." The prodigahty of the Wessa- 
gusset colonists was, as previously described, one of the 
main causes of this distress ; while another was " the 
clause in their compact by which all that was raised in 
the colony was placed in a common stock." Still the 
Plymouth settlers were not disheartened; and even a 
drought, which set in in May, and, lasting for six weeks, 
very nearly ruined the grain in the fields, did not lead 
them to abandon all hope for the future. 

A better day dawned unexpectedly. Rain fell " with- 
out either wind or thunder, and by degrees in that abun- 



18 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

dance as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked 
therewith." The tender plants and grain stalks revived, 
and once more "a day of thanksgiving unto the Lord " was 
solemnized. The Indians who had shared the despondency 
of the colonists, said to them, " Now we see Englishmen's 
God is a good God; for he hath heard you and sent you 
rain, and that without storms, and tempests, and thunder, 
which usually we have with our rain, which breaks down 
our corn ; but yours stands whole and good still. Surely 
your God is a good God." ^ 

In July the colonists saw two more vessels sail into their 
harbqr, — the " Little James " and the "Anne," — together 
having on board sixty passengers. We are told that " on 
landing and witnessing the miserable condition of their 
predecessors, they were daunted and dismayed. Some wished 
themselves in England again ; while others, in the distress 
of their friends, gaunt with hunger and meanly clad, im- 
agined they saw their own lot pictured. The scene pre- 
sented a strange mixture of chagrin, sorrow, sympathy, and 
joy, — chagrin and sorrow that the circumstances of the 
colony were so mean and impoverished, sympathy and joy 
caused by the meeting of parents and children, husbands 
and wives, brothers and sisters, after a long and painful 
separation." ^ Two months later the Anne returned to 
England ; the Little James, having been built for the exclu- 
sive use of the colony, remained. 

In the autumn of 1623, Captain Robert Gorges, son of 
. Sir Ferdinando, having been appointed lieutenant-general of 
the country, arrived in the Massachusetts Bay. He had re- 
ceived from the Plymouth Council a grant of " the Massa- 
chusetts," embracing "all the shores and coasts for ten 

> Chron. Pilgrim., 3i8. « Barry, i. 125. 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 19 

English miles in a straight line towards the north-east, and 
thirty miles into the mainland, through all this breadth." 
He was accompanied by William Morrell, a clergyman of 
the Established Church, who came to exercise a sort of 
jurisdiction over ecclesiastical affairs. Gorges first visited 
the site of the TVessagusset colony, where, shortly after- 
wards, he planted a new colony. For nearly a 3'ear he 
labored arduously for the success of his enterprise, when 
necessit}^ urged his quick return to England. INIorrell fol- 
lowed him in a brief season. 

When the Anne sailed for England, Mr. Edward Wins- 
low departed therein for the purpose of transacting business 
with the Merchant Adventurers. He returned home during 
the winter, in the " Charity," with a " full supply of cloth- 
ing and a quantity of neat cattle," and also a number of 
letters addressed to his associates at Plymouth. Whilst in 
England, Mr. Winslow obtained a patent of lands at Cape 
Ann, executed by Edmund, Lord Sheffield, a member of 
the Council for New England, in favor of Robert Cushman 
and Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, " for themselves and 
their associates." Of this patent, and of the plantation 
which was erected under it, more remains to be said here- 
after. 

Unfortunately for the colonists, an Episcopal minister, 
John Lyford, accompanied Mr. Winslow on his return 
voyage. The coming of Lyford gave rise to a serious dis- 
turbance. Although his personal character was far from 
being respectable, the colonists received him graciously, and 
admitted him to their councils. Soon, however, he was 
found plotting with one John Oldham, who had come over 
in the Anne, and between whom " there was nothing but 
private whisperings and meetings, they feeding themselves 



20 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and others with what they should bring to pass in England, 
by the faction of their friends there ; which brought others 
as well as themselves into a fool's paradise." These men 
addressed letters to their friends in England, and placed 
them to be forwarded, in trust, with the captain of the 
Charity. A portion of the letters were intercepted by Gov- 
ernor Bradford. 

Having matured his scheme, Lyford withdrew from the 
colonial church, and observed the Episcopal form of wor- 
ship. A court was convened, and the governor preferred 
charges against him, and supported them with the inter- 
cepted letters. Both Lyford and Oldham were sentenced 
to banishment. In the spring of 1625, the latter, who 
had gone to live at Nantasket, returned to Plymouth, and 
again proved obnoxious. Rigorous treatment, however, soon 
calmed his disposition, and he eventually became a foremost 
member of the Massachusetts colony. This whole affair, 
when judged from a modern stand-point, must always be 
looked upon with regret. Religious zeal had already deep- 
ened into violent sectarianism, of which, as it will shortly 
appear, the present was not the most deplorable result. 

Nearly five years had elapsed since a settlement had been 
made at Plymouth. Its fame, however small it may have 
seemed, was not .insignificant, and had spread itself far and 
wide. Already extensive fisheries were being carried on at 
" Munhiggon " by merchants of Bristol, and stages had 
been erected at Cape Ann by merchants of Dorchester. 
Hundreds in England watched the progress of American 
colonization with interest, and impatiently awaited the ful- 
filment of grander and more important results. The Rev. 
Mr. White, of Dorchester, having called to his assistance 
certain gentlemen of means residing in his locality, organ- 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 21 

ized, on a caj)ital of three thousand pounds, what was 
known as the Dorchester Company, which, forming a con- 
nection with the grantees of the Sheffield patent, shipped 
to America a number of persons to form a settlement at 
Cape Ann. By invitation, the banished Lyford became the 
minister of these people. • Not long afterwards, a rupture 
occurred between the Plymouth colonists and the Merchant 
Adventurers, occasioned, probably, by errors on both sides. 
From the beginning " the connection of the merchants with 
the colonists was more mercenary than moral ; and the con- 
nection of the colonists with the merchants was involuntary 
and profitless." ^ 

Circumstances were such that neither party in the quar- 
rel wished for a reconciliation ; and hence, in order to close 
up affairs in a proper manner, Captain Standish was sent to 
England, in the autumn of 1625, bearing a letter to the 
Council for New England, " soliciting their interference." 
Notwithstanding that his mission was partially unsuccessful, 
he won the favor and esteem of several members of the 
Council, with whom he negotiated a loan of one hundred 
and fifty pounds. In the following spring he returned 
home with a supply of goods, and also with the sorrowful 
intelligence of the deaths of John Hobinson and of Mr. Cush- 
man. During his absence, his associates, rejoicing over a 
bountiful harvest and the continuance of good health, had 
sent out a trading party to the region of the Kennebec, 
which brought back " seven hundred pounds of beaver in 
exchange for their corn." The reward of this and other 
similar enterprises was amply sufficient to cancel the debt 
which Standish had contracted in England, as well as others 
of longer standing. The rupture with the Merchant Ad- 

' Mass. Hist. Col., vol. ill. 



22 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

venturers was not, therefore, so fraught with evil as many 
at first had conjectured. 

The Plymouth people firmly believed in thrift and enter- 
prise. As nothing was to be obtained without labor, so 
nothing could be gained without venture. To be always 
upon the watch for likely risks . was their motto. In the 
spring of 1627, messengers from the Dutch settlement at 
Manhattan arrived at Plymouth, bearing " fairly written " 
letters from the secretary of New Netherland. ' The Pilgrims 
were shocked to read themselves "high titled" in these 
epistles, but were exceedingly well pleased with the " agree- 
able overtures " to trade that were therein conveyed. These 
overtures were accepted ; and inasmuch as the good folk at 
Manhattan " had monopolized nearly all the fur trade at 
Narragansett and Buzzard's Bay, they were desired to for- 
bear trading in those parts, as they were held to be within 
the limits of the Plymouth patent." Whereupon the Dutch 
took offence, and asserted their intention to defend rights 
which, they alleged, were delegated to themselves by the 
States General of Holland. The Pilgrims forwarded this 
defiant response to their friends in England, and solicited 
advice. 

In September, 1627, De Rasieres, secretary of New 
Netherland, came in person to Plymouth, where he was 
hospitably entertained. He proposed offers of trade, which 
the colonists accepted. Upon returning, he carried letters 
to the director general of Manhattan, in which the Pilgrims 
insisted that the Dutch should " clear the title of their 
planting in these parts, which his majesty hath, by patent, 
granted to divers his nobles and subjects of quality." Mean- 
while Mr. Allerton, who had been sent to England to wind 
up the connection with the Merchant Adventurers, returned 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. ' 23 

home. "While abroad, he had effected a compact with the 
Adventurers, the terms of which were, that, " for eighteen 
hundred pounds, to be paid at the Royal Exchange every 
Michaelmas, in nine equal annual instalments, the first in 
1628, the Company sold to 'the Pilgrims' all their inter- 
est in the plantation, including merchandise and lands." 
This compact, being deemed a favorable one, was fully 
sanctioned by the colonists ; and, in order to be able to 
fulfil its conditions, "a new partnership was formed, into 
which every head of a family and every prudent young 
man were admitted ; the trade was to be managed as before ; 
and provisions were made for the payment of the debts of 
the colony, and the division of the neat cattle and lands 
among the settlers." ^ Enterprise received a fresh impetus, 
and the limits of the same were extended. A pinnace was 
built at Manomet; a house was erected, servants lodged 
therein, " ever in readiness to go out with the boat," and 
corn was planted in the neighboring field. Such was the 
beginning of Sandwich. 

The colonists were now, in one sense, independent, and 
in a condition to act for themselves. Again Mr. AUerton 
sailed for England, and in 1628 secured a " patent for the 
Kennebec," and paid the first instalment of two hundred 
pounds to the Adventurers. It was in this way that the 
partnership with the latter was dissolved, and the colonists 
entered upon a new period of happiness and prosperity. 
From these considerations we now turn to an episode which 
marks the history of these j'ears. 

So early as 1625, about thirty persons, under the com- 
mand of one Captain WoUaston, began a settlement on an 
eminence in Quincy, — stUL known as Mount WoUaston. 

' Barry, i. 139. Hubbard, 98. 



24 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Among the number was Thomas Morton, a lawyer, of whom 
little else is handed . down. In a year's time Wollaston 
went to Virginia, leaving a Mr. Filcher in charge of the 
colony. During his absence, Morton and his retainers de- 
posed Filcher, and amid scenes of drunkenness and debauch- 
ery " such as these western wilds had never before wit- 
nessed," themselves assumed all control. Morton became 
" lord of misrule," and to the place gave the name of 
Merry Mount. " Bacchanalian revelry," says an historian, 
" reigned triumphant ; and around a tall May-pole, decked 
with garlands, the leader of the party, with his companions 
and the dissolute Indian women of the vicinity, like so 
many Hecates, danced the Saturnalia of wantonness and 
lewdness. Merry Mount became the school of Atheism, the 
asylum of the vicious, and the resort of the profligate." 

One of the first acts of Morton, after coming into power, 
was to instruct the Indians in the use of fire-arms. He 
•even sold to them upwards of twenty guns and a large 
quantity of ammunition, and then departed to England for 
more. This proceeding was deemed by the Plymouth colo- 
nists one of misconduct ; and a meeting of the chief plant- 
ers was held to take the matter into consideration. It 
was declared that " so public a mischief" ought to be guard- 
ed against. 

In response to an entreaty to desist from such acts, 
Morton said, " Proclamations are no laws, and enforce no 
penalties. The king is dead, and his displeasure dies with 
him. I shall trade with the natives despite of your pro- 
tests." This rejoinder, couched in the most profane and 
insulting language, was sufficient cause for wrath ; and Cap- 
tain Standish, with a company of men, was ordered to arrest 
Morton. The latter made a vain show of bravado, but was 




THE MILES STANDISH HOUSE, DUXBURY. 



THE PLYMOUTH COLONY. 25 

finally brought a prisoner to Plymouth. In the custody of 
John Oldham, he was sent to England to be . tried, where, 
however, by " audacious and colored pictures," he success- 
fully pleaded his own cause, and was released. In the spring 
of 1629 he returned to Plymouth as the secretary of Mr. 
AUerton, and within a short time after his arrival again 
" resorted to his old haunts." A second time " the Lord 
of Merry Mount " was shipped to England, on suspicion of 
murder. Being tried and acquitted, he came back to Amer- 
ica, and died " in obscurity at Piscataqua." It remains to 
be said that the scene of his rascality " became the seat of 
an honest, thriving, and sober township," and latterly noted 
as the birthplace of the Adamses. The story of Morton's 
career furnishes one of the most singular episodes in the his- 
tory of Massachusetts, and has variously been judged by 
different writers. Morton himself was the author of several 
works, and in his' " New English Canaan," presents the 
following ludicrous account of the aborigines : " The Indians 
may be rather accompted as living richly, wanting nothing 
that is needful, and to be commended for leading a con- 
tented life, the younger being ruled by the elder, and the 
elder ruled by the Powahs, and the Powahs are ruled by 
the Devill, and then you may imagine what good rule is 
hke to be amongst them." ^ 

Meanwhile the affairs of the Plymouth colony were in a 
prosj)erous condition. In the autumn of 1629 a new grant 
was obtained from England ; and eleven years later the 
patent from the New England Council was surrendered by 
Governor Bradford to the people. In 1636 the laws of the 
colony were revised, and the powers of the executive were 
defined. Three years afterwards, deputies from the several 

' Morton, N. Eng. Can. Barry, Bancroft, &c. 

4 ■ 



26 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS 

towns in the colony assembled, and assumed the authority 
which had hitherto been lodged with the whole body of 
freemen. At the close of 1643, there were, besides Plym- 
outh, six settled towns in the colony, namely : Duxbury, so 
named from its being the home of the military chief {dux) 
Miles Standish ; Scituate, Taunton, Barnstable, Sandwich, and 
Yarmouth, — all of which were in a most flourishing state. 
It is impossible for the present generation to look back 
upon the career of ■ the Pilgrims without being impressed 
with the magnitude and the importance of their mission. 
Goaded by religious persecution, these separatists " showed 
the way to an asylum for those who would go to the wil- 
derness for the purity of religion or the liberty of con- 
science." Reared amid hardships and want, early inured 
to toil, and unaccustomed to luxury and wealth, they set 
the example of colonizing New England, " and formed the 
mould for the civil and religious character of its institu- 
tions." These men " were the servants of posterity, the 
benefactors of succeeding generations. In the history of the 
world, many pages are devoted to commemorate the men 
who have besieged cities, subdued provinces, or overthrown 
empires. In the eye of reason and of truth, a colony is a 
better offering than a victory ; the citizens of the United 
States should rather cherish the memory of those who found- 
ed a state on the basis of democratic liberty ; the fathers of 
the country ; the men who, as they first trod the soil of 
the New World, scattered the seminal principles of repub- 
lican freedom and national independence. They enjoyed in 
anticipation the thought of their extending influence, and 
the fame which their grateful successors would award to 
their virtues." ^ 

' Bancroft, i. 320. 




THE MILES STANDISH MONUMENT, DUXBURY. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 27 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 

After the death of James I., in 1625, his son Charles 
I., succeeded to the throne. He cherished the politi- 
cal theories of his predecessor, showed only small respect 
for Parliaments, to whom he granted "liberty of coun- 
sel, but not of control," and did not hesitate to invade 
the rights and religious scruples of his people. One of his 
earliest and most obnoxious acts was to depose the lenient 
Abbott, and to place the infamous Laud at the head of 
ecclesiastical affairs. ' As a result of this proceeding, the 
severest penalties were imposed upon all those who. refused 
to become members of the Established Church. The com- 
motions in church and state bore heavily upon the Puritans, 
who now besran to look around them for some safe retreat. 
Already the good reports from the Plymouth colony had 
awakened their attention ; and to America they also dared 
to turn "for the tranquil and peaceful enjoyment " of their 
rights.^ 

The Dorchester Company, .which, as has been related in 
the previous chapter, established a colony at Cape Ann in 
the autumn of 1623, was dissolved in 1626. Mr. Roger 
Conant, who had been placed in charge of the colony, soon 
became dissatisfied with the location, and removed to " a 
fruitful neck of land " at Naumkeag, now Salem, " secretly 

* Barry, i. 153. Pari. Hist. Eng. , ix. 69, seq. 



28 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

conceiving in his mind that in following times it might 
prove a receptacle for such as, upon the account of religion, 
would be willing to begin a foreign plantation in this part 
of the world, of which he gave intimation to his friends in 
England." ^ Although the colony which was presided over 
by this excellent man was exceedingly diminutive, — num- 
bering, perhaps, not more than fifty persons, — still it should 
always be remembered as having been the germ of the re- 
nowned Massachusetts colony. 

Mr. Conant lost no time in informing the Rev. John 
White, the father of the Cape Ann colony, and " under 
God one of the chief founders of the Massachusetts colony," 
of his new project. The latter immediately wrote back, 
saying that, if Mr. Conant should, together with John 
"Woodbury, John Balch, and Peter Palfreys, remain at Naum- 
keag, he would obtain for them a patent, and forward men 
and supplies. The companions of Mr. Conant at first re- 
fused to enter into this engagement, preferring rather to 
.remove to Virginia. They were persuaded, however, to 
tarry ; and in consequence of this resolution, their names 
have descended to the present generation as " the sentinels 
of Puritanism on the Bay of Massachusetts." ^ Faithful to 
his promise, Mr. White obtained a patent, in 1628, con- 
veying to six individuals, Sir Henry Rosewell, Sir John 
Young, J^ohn Humphrey, Thomas Southcote, John Endicott, 
and Simon Whetcomb, " that part of New England lying 
between three miles to the north of the Merrimac and 
three miles to the south of the Charles River, and of every 
part thereof, in the Massachusetts Bay ; and in length be- 
tween the described breadth, from the Atlantic Ocean to 
the South Sea." 3 

' Hubbard, Hist., 102-107. ' Hubbard, 108. 3 M. H. Coll., iii. 326, seq. 

' Bancroft, i. 339. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 29 

This patent having been secured, Mr. White labored hard 
to advance the enterprise still farther. It required all the 
eloquence and argument at his command to interest others 
in the undertaking. After some delay, Rosewell, Young, 
and Southcote withdrew, and the rest, having entered into 
a partnership with certain London merchants, assumed all 
rights by purchase, and formed themselves into an organiza- 
tion known as the Massachusetts Company, of which John 
•Endicott was chosen a leading representative, and was 
commissioned " to carry on the plantation of the Dorchester 
agents, and to make way for the settling of another colony 
in the Massachusetts." ^ In June, 1628, Endicott, with a 
small company of emigrants, left England, and in the same 
year arrived safely at Naumkeag, where the former at once 
"entered upon the duties of his office as magistrate and 
governor." 2 At the close of the year, the colony numbered 
about one hundred persons, who had come hither mostly 
" from Dorchester and some places adjoining." ^ 

In the following year the colony was largely increased 
by new arrivals, and arrangements were set on foot for 
the establishing of a local government, to be styled " The 
Governor and Council of London's Plantation in the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, in New England." Thirteen members were 
chosen to constitute this government. John Endicott was 
appointed governor ; and John Browne, Samuel Browne, 
Samuel Sharpe, Thomas Graves, and the three ministers, 
constituted his council. " These eight chose three others, 
from among the new emigrants, or those of the previous 
year, at their option, and the 'old planters,' two more, 
making, with the governor, thirteen in all. This govern- 
ment was strictly subordinate to the company in England; 

' Hubbard, 109. * Barry, i. 162. ^ Chron. Mass., ch. xvii. 



30 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

its members were not chosen by the freemen of the place; 
and though its powers were extensive, they were by no 
means unUmited. Punishment for ordinary offences could 
be inflicted, but to some cases neither its jurisdiction nor 
that of the company at this time extended ; and in these 
cases the guilty parties were to be returned to England for 
the final adjudication of their offences, where the supreme 
legislative authority then lay." ^ 

Land was apportioned among the settlers, and restrictions 
were laid upon their manner of habitation. A just and hon- 
orable policy was adopted towards the Indians. All territory 
was to be purchased from them by agreement, and nothing 
was to be wrested by force. Little or no familiar inter- 
course was to be maintained with them, however ; but a 
deference and respect were to be cherished for their natural 
rights. The moral regulation of the colony was an object 
of the first importance. The Sabbath was to be " celebrated 
in a religious manner ; " profanity was absolutely forbidden 
under penalty ; industry was to be always encouraged, and 
idleness proscribed. As moderation was deemed the first 
duty of a pioneer, all cases of drunkenness were to be ex- 
emplarily punished. 

In June, 1G29, a company of emigrants, under the con- 
duct of ]\Ir. Francis Higginson, a minister of Leicestershii;e, 
and a man " mighty in the Scriptures and learned in the 
tongues," arrived at Naumkeag. ]\Ir. Higginson is still re- 
membered as the author of " New England's Plantation," a 
small volume, first published in London, in 1630, and which 
contains one of the best descriptions of the country. Shortly 
after the arrival of this company, three brothers, Ralph, 
Richard, and William Sprague, and others,- made a journey 

' Barry, i. 1G5. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 31 

to " Mishawum," now Charlestown. The report which they 
brought back of the place was extremely favorable, and 
led to the laying out of a town in that locality, " with 
streets around the hill." Before the year had drawn to a 
close, there were living at Charlestown nearly one hundred 
inhabitants, and at Salem at least four hundred. It- will 
thus be seen that the Puritan colony had far outstripped 
in numbers that of the impoverished Pilgrims. 

In midsummer a council was held with the " Plymouth 
brethren " with regard to the organization of a church. On 
this interesting occasion thirty members were gathered ; a 
choice was made of the elders and deacons, and a covenant 
and confession of faith were subscribed. Mr. Samuel Skel- 
ton, of Lincolnshire, was ordained pastor, and Mr. Higgin- 
son teacher of this small body. Thus was established the 
church at Salem, — the second in Massachusetts on the 
basis of Independent Congregationalism.^ 

And yet there were a few among these Puritans who 
pronounced these proceedings arbitrary. Two brothers, 
John and Samuel Browne, complained bitterly because the 
service of the Episcopal Church was " taken of no account," 
and thus aroused the indiscretion of their associates. Gov- 
ernor Endicott, " finding these two brothers to be of high 
spirits, and their speeches and practices tending to mutiny 
and faction," told them that " Xew England was no place 
for them, and therefore he sent them both back to Eng- 
land at the return of the ships the same year." ^ Posterity 
has variously judged the conduct of Mr. Endicott. But 
whatever may be thought of it now, it is certainly to be 
regretted that an exclusive spirit should so early have taken 

' Mather, Magnalia. Felt's Hist, of Salem. Barry, i. 171 
* Hubbard, 64. 



32 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

root in a colony founded, as was the Massachusetts colony, 
upon the broad grounds of Christian toleration. 

We have now to record one of the most unique transac- 
tions in the history of English colonization, and one, too, 
which has oftentimes been the subject of warm discussion. 
In July, 1629, Matthew Cradock, governor of the Massa- 
chusetts Company, presented at one of the courts " certain 
propositions conceived by himself, namely : that for the ad- 
vancement of the plantation, the inducing and encouraging 
persons of worth and quality to transport themselves and 
families thither, and for other weighty reasons therein con- 
tained, to transfer the government of the plantation to those 
that shall inhabit there, and not to continue the same in 
subordination to the company here, as it now is." ^ 

Hitherto the Massachusetts Company and the Massachu- 
setts colony had been closely identified ; but now they were 
virtually distinct bodies, " the latter subordinate to the for- 
mer, and dependent upon it for support." The change 
which Mr. Cradock proposed was one of the most vital 
importance, and consequently it awakened great interest. 
This is not the place to enter into any discussion either 
of its merits or demerits, or even to revive the question of 
its legality. It is sufficient for us to know that Justice 
Story has written that " the whole structure of the char- 
ter " granted to the Massachusetts Company "presupposes 
the residence of the company in England, and the transac- 
tion of all its business there ; " ^ while, on the other hand, 
not a few eminent jurists have expressed the opinion that 
the so-called transfer of the charter was wholly legal. The 

> Hubbard, 123. 

* Story, Com. on Const., i. 48. See Washburn's Judicial History, 13. Chal- 
mers's Annals, 173. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY, 33 

colonists themselves maintained that " their charter made 
them a corporation on the place." Whether it was legal or 
not, the latter opinion was certainly democratic, and was 
sanctioned by the Long Parliament of England. " Other 
plantations," writes John Winthrop, in his Journal,^ " have 
been undertaken at the charge of others in England, and 
the planters have their dependence upon the companies 
there, and those planters go and come chiefly for matters of 
profit ; but we came to abide here, and to plant the gospel, 
and people the country ; and herein God hath marvellously 
blessed us." 

Some time before the agreement was made relative to 
the transfer of the charter, twelve gentlemen in Cambridge, 
England, signed a compact that if " before the last of Sep- 
tember the government and patent of the plantation were 
legally transferred, to remain with the emigrants, they, 
with such of their families as were to go with them, would, 
by the first of March, 1630, embark to inhabit and continue 
in New England." ^ Inasmuch as the transfer was to blend 
the company and the colony into one, a meeting was held 
at the earliest moment for the purpose of choosing new 
officers. 

There was one man associated with the organization 
whose name should never be forgotten. This was John 
Winthrop, a native of Groton, a lawyer by profession, and 
a Christian by example. He was " accustomed from youth 
to an easy and familiar intercourse with persons of refine- 
ment and intelligence ; associating with the worthiest of the 
commoners, and nobility of the realm ; conversant with the- 
ology as well as with the law ; possessed of a comfortable 
estate of at least six hundred pounds' income ; eminent for 

' Winthrop, ii. 366. '^ Chron. Mass., ch. xiv. 

5 



34 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

his liberality, and distinguished for his hospitality, — he was 
now in the maturity of his powers and the vigor of his 
years, having just turned forty — a period when, if ever, 
the character of the man is developed, and the full energies 
of his being are brought into activity." ^ Mr. Winthrop 
was a gentleman, who possessed both the esteem and con- 
fidence of his fellows; and thus he enjo3^s the high honor 
of being the first governor chosen by the freemen of the 
Massachusetts colony. 

Associated with him in the enterprise were Thomas Dud- 
ley, Richard Saltonstall, Isaac Johnson, John Humphrey, 
William Coddington, Simon Bradstreet, and other persons 
of influence and respectability. They were, in great part, 
men of the professional and middle classes, some of them 
of large landed estates, some zealous clergymen, some shrewd 
London lawyers, or young scholars from Oxford. The bulk 
were God-fearing farmers from Lincolnshire and the eastern 
counties. They desired, in fact, " only the best," as sharers 
in their enterprise ; they were driven forth from their father- 
land, not by earthly want, nor by the greed of gold, nor by 
the lust of adventure, but by the fear of God and the zeal 
for a godly worship. How fortunate for New England that 
it was settled by such men ! 

On the 28th of August, 1629, "after a long and serious 
debate " before the court, the government and patent of 
the Massachusetts colony were settled in New England ; 
and the associates of Winthrop were then " confirmed in 
the desire to found a new and a better commonwealth 
beyond the Atlantic, even though it might require the sale 
of their hereditary estates, and hazard the inheritance of 
their children." Did such a desire annihilate the love of 

' Barry, i. 184. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 35 

country ? "I shall call that my country," wrote "Winthrop, 
" where I may most glorify God, and enjoy the presence 
of my dearest friends." ^ The fit word was spoken ; and 
the Pin-itan emigration began on such a scale as England 
had never before witnessed. 

At the appointed season, in March, 1630, a fleet of eleven 
vessels, " filled with passengers of all occupations, skilled 
in all kinds of faculties needful for the planting of a new 
colony," set sail for the New World. " Farewell, dear Eng- 
land ! " was the cry which burst from the first little com- 
pany of emigrants, as its shores faded from their sight. 
" Our hearts," said one to the brethren left behind, " shall 
be fountains of tears for your everlasting welfare, when we 
shall be in our poor cottages in the wilderness." The 
voyage was stormy and tempestuous ; but by the 8th of 
July all the vessels were safely moored in the harbor of 
Salem. Governor Winthrop himself arrived about the mid- 
dle of June. 

On the 17th of June, Winthrop, with others, " sailed 
up the Mystic," and there found " a good place." A second 
party, setting out shortly afterwards, found a place "three 
leagues up Charles River," which suited better. On the 
10th of July, a removal from Salem was determined upon, 
because " it did not suit for the capital town," and the 
majority of the emigrants proceeded to Charlestown, where 
they erected houses around the hill.^ Not many days had 
gone by before a distressing mortality, occasioned by hard- 
ships and a want of nourishing food, carried off many of the 
colonists. The venerable Higginson, the wives of Pynchon 
and Coddington, and of Phillips and Alcock, were among 
the number. But the saddest death of all was that of the 

' Winthrop, i. 432. « Hubbard, 134. Chron. Mass., 378. 



36 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Lady Arabella, wife of Isaac Johnson, Esq., who had come 
" from a paradise of plenty and pleasure into a wilderness 
of wants." One month later, her husband also died, " over- 
whelmed in a flood of tears and grief." ^ 

The sufferings of the people of Charlestown were such 
that a further dispersion was agreed upon. Before the year 
had closed, two hundred had passed from the living. To 
Watertown went Sir Richard Saltonstall, Mr. Phillips, and 
others ; Mr. Bradstreet and Mr. Dudley and others, settled 
at Newtown, now Cambridge ; Mr. Pynchon and others, at 
Roxbury ; while of the remainder some repaired to Lynn, 
some to Mystic, and a few, including Governor Winthrop 
and Mr. Wilson, settled at Shawmut, and there laid the 
foundations of Boston, Over a hundred persons, who had 
become disheartened, returned home to England.^ 

The succeeding winter brought no amelioration of hard- 
ships ; and before spring was ushered in, " the wolf of 
famine " was prowling around nearly every door. The gov- 
ernor's last loaf of bread was in the oven, and the pros- 
pect before all was death. The 6th of February was appoint- 
ed a day of fasting and prayer. But on the day preceding, 
a bright omen appeared. A vessel was descried off Nan- 
tasket, — the "Lyon," — laden with provisions, and having 
twenty-six passengers on board. Gratitude supplanted grief, 
and " the fast was changed into a thanksgiving, which was 
celebrated throughout all the colony with ardent rejoi- 
cing." 2 Happily for the colonists, the Indians gave no real 
cause for apprehension. The policy of the English dis- 
posed them to peace rather than to war, and won from 
them the most pleasing tokens of friendship. 

' Winthrop, i. 40-44. 

2 Chron. Mass., SlSi 2 M. H. Coll. iv. 202, seq. Winthrop, 1. 448. 

^ Barry, i. 19G. Hubbard, 139. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY 37 

A visit to Plj'mouth by Governor Winthrop and others, in 
the autumn of 1632, tended to unite the two sister colonies 
in fidelity and love. Constant accessions strengthened the 
Massachusetts colony, and gave promise of a brilliant future. 
In 1633, among the number of those who came over from 
England were John Haynes, afterwards governor of Massa- 
chusetts, and still later of Connecticut, whose name is 
worthy to be alwaj^s associated with that of Winthrop ; 
Thomas Leverett, a prominent layman, for many years 
elder of the church of Boston ; John Cotton, one of the 
most remarkable characters in our history ; Thomas Hooker, 
" the light of the western churches, and the rich pearl 
which Europe gave to America, a prodigy of learning and 
an eloquent orator ; " and Samuel Stone, a worthy pastor 
of tlie church at Hartford. It was once a saying of the 
colonists that " the God of heaven had supplied them with 
what would in some sort answer their three great temporal 
necessities — Cotton for their clothing. Hooker for their fish- 
ing, and Stone for their building." ^ 

One of our early writers affirms that " it is as unnatural 
for a right New England man to live without an able min- 
istry as for a smith to work his iron without a fire."^ In 
other words, it ought never to be supposed that the spiritual 
affairs of the colony were permitted to fall into disrepute. 
One after another, in quick succession, religious societies 
were formed, and churches were gathered. On the 30th of 
July, — about three weeks after the colonists had reached 
Charlestown, — the church at Boston was organized. The 
church at Charlestown was gathered two weeks later. 
About the same time, the church at Watertown sprang into 

* Mather, iii. ch. xvi. Young, in Chron. Mass. 
2 Johnson, in 2 M. H. Coll., vii. 40. 



38 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

life ; as also those at Lynn, Roxbuiy, Dorchester, and New- 
town. Before the close of the year 1636, the Massachu- 
setts colony could boast of at least nine churches, all of 
which were in a well-settled and flourishing condition, and 
zealous in the propagation " of their own system of ortho- 
dox faith." ^ Who can count the changes that have taken 
place since that day, and the sects which, springing out of 
the conflicting elements of the Puritan intellect, have mul- 
tiplied and increased ? 

It has already been remarked that, when the charter was 
transferred from the possession of the Massachusetts Com- 
pany, holding its residence in London, into the hands of 
the Massachusetts colony, John Winthrop was unanimously 
chosen governor by the freemen of the latter. It must not 
for a single moment be imagined that the administration 
of this most excellent man was all sunshine, nor that the 
spirits of the governed were all in full accord with the 
conduct and character of the chief magistrate. " In the 
management of such a body of men," says an historian, 
" exulting in their escape from the oppressions of the mother 
country, and luxuriating in the sense of newly-acquired 
freedom, it would not be strange if some errors were com- 
mitted, or if those prejudices were awakened which are 
easily induced by conceived assumj)tions of authority in 
magistrates, or conceived encroachments upon civil and 
spiritual rights." ^ 

Whether from some mistaken notion, or from some other 
reason, certain of his associates openly accused Mr. Win- 
throp of desiring to perpetuate "his incumbency of the 
office he held ; " and, this opinion having become quite uni- 
versal, the choosing of another governor was resolved upon. 

' See Savage on "Winthrop, i. 114. * Barry, i. 204. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 39 

In vain did Mr. Cotton eulogize the virtues of his friend, 
and seek to implant the doctrine that " the right of an 
honest magistrate to his place was like that of a proprietor 
to his freehold, and that neither should be removed unless 
convicted of injustice." A new election was held in 1634, 
and Thomas Dudley was chosen governor, and Roger Lud- 
low deputy governor. 

Before retiring from his office, Governor Winthrop was 
subjected to a mortification which his sensitive mind keenly 
felt. Although he stood high in the hearts of his country- 
men, he was not allowed to withdraw into private life with- 
out being annoyed by the petty jealousies of his rivals. A 
false imputation was placed upon his honesty, and he was 
called upon to give an account of the receipts and disburse- 
ments during his administration. In vindication of his char- 
acter, he made an open and frank reply. " In all these 
things," he said, " I refer myself to the wisdom and jus- 
tice of the court, with this protestation — that it repenteth 
me not of my cost or labor bestowed in the service of this 
commonwealth, but do heartily bless the Lord our God 
that he hath been pleased to honor me so far as to call for 
anything he hath bestowed upon me, for the service of his 
church and people here, the prosperity whereof, and his 
gracious acceptance, shall be an abundant recompense to me. 
I conclude with this one request, which in justice may not 
be denied me — that, as it stands upon record that upon 
the discharge of my office I was called to account, so this 
my declaration may be recorded also, lest hereafter, when 
I shall be forgotten, some blemish may lie upon my pos- 
terity, when there shall be nothing to clear it." ^ 

Notwithstanding that very many were earnest to raise 

• Winthrop, Hist., i. 476. 



40 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Mr. Dudley to office, his popularity did not permit him to 
hold it longer than one year ; when John Haynes, who had 
served as one of his assistants, was appointed governor, and 
Richard Bellingham deputy governor. During this admin- 
istration over three thousand emigrants left England, and 
came over and settled in the colony. There were not a few 
distinguished men among them, including Richard Mather, 
long the minister of the church at Dorchester; Anthony 
Thatcher, a writer of repute ; Hugh Peters, afterwards the 
counsellor of Ohver Cromwell ; and Thomas Shepard, the 
worthy pastor of the first church in Cambridge. Not one 
of the preceding names, however, possessed the eminence, 
at the time, of that of Sir Henry Vane, " a young gentle- 
man of excellent parts," who freely relinquished the gaye- 
ties and splendors of a brilliant court, and, attaching him- 
self to Puritanism, came to New England " to enjoy the 
ordinances of Christ in their purity." ^ 

Although scarcely twenty-five years of age, he was, even 
in youth, one of the most remarkable characters that the 
Old World gave to the New. The son of a secretary of 
state, he was destined to play one of the first parts in the 
coming revolution, while his arrival in Massachusetts seemed 
to herald the coming of the very heads of the Puritan 
movement. The excellence of his genius won for him the 
majestic encomiums of Milton. " If he were not superior 
to Hampden," wrote Lord Clarendon, " he was inferior to 
no other man ; his whole life made good the imagination 
that there was. in him something extraordinary." ^ 

Sir Henry arrived at a time when the freemen were pre- 
paring for a new election. Flattered by the thought that 

' Neal, N. Eng. Hist, i. 144. Hutchinson, i. 65 
* Hist. EebelUon, i. 186-188. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 41 

SO brilliant a personage should have condescended to join 
their ranks, and blind to the fact that he lacked both years 
and experience, they unwisely chose him governor. This 
was in 1636, at a time when it had become " the theme 
of wonder and admiration with them all that such a man, 
so fitted by his talents and position to sway the destinies 
of men in courts and palaces, should choose the better part 
with the remote and unfriended exiles of the obscure wil- 
derness of Massachusetts." ^ Sudden outbursts of popular 
fervor always come to a speedy end, and errors of impru- 
dence are more keenly felt by those who have allowed 
themselves to become their victims. In reality, Vane ' came 
only as " a sojourner, and not as a permanent resident ; 
neither was he imbued with the colonial prejudices, the 
genius of the place ; and his clear mind, unbiassed by previ- 
ous discussions, and fresh from the public business of Eng- 
land, saw distinctly what the colonists did not wish to see 
— the really wide difference between their practice under 
their charter and the meaning of that instrument on the 
principles of English jurisprudence." ^ 

Political factions were already creating a disturbance, and 
party strife was dissevering the bonds of reason and justice. 
On the very day when Vane was ushered into office, oppo- 
sition began to set face against him ; and from this time 
onward it did not cease to embarrass his government at 
every step. The first open manifestation of this intense feel- 
ing was occasioned by a very trivial incident, which must 
here be related. 

Two years before, Mr. Endicott had cut the red cross 
from the flag at Salem, as a "relic of Popery insufferable 
in a Puritan community." ^ This proceeding was censured 

* Foster's Statesmen of the Coram., 268. ^ Winthrop, i. 175, seq. 

* Bancroft, i. 384. 



42 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

as both " rash and uncharitable ; " but shortly afterwards 
the same judges declared the use of a cross in an ensign 
to be unlawful, and proposed to change it to the " red and 
white rose." When, three months later, the ship "St. Pat- 
rick," belonging to Sir Thomas Weutworth, afterwards Earl 
of Strafford, approached Castle Island, her commander was 
ordered to strike her flag. He obeyed, and then complained 
of the order as "a great injury." Next, the ship "Hec- 
tor" sailed into the harbor; and one of her mates, finding 
the king's colors not displayed on the fort, denounced the 
colonists as " traitors and rebels." This affair caused such 
a commotion that Governor Vane felt it to be his duty 
to seek advice. A consultation was held with " the min- 
isters," to whom Governor Vane expressed liis determina- 
tion to display the king's colors on the fort. Although 
Mr. Winthrop strongly protested against it, the resolve 
was immediatel}^ put into execution. Not a suit of unmu- 
tilated colors could be found in the colony ; and the magis- 
trates were, accordingly, forced to accept the loan of the 
suits of two ship captains, — and this even when " fully 
persuaded that the use of a cross in an ensign was idola- 
trous." 

There was still another cause which inflamed opposition 
to the administration of Governor Vane. Of the number 
of those who had come over to America, in the emigration 
of 1634, was Anne Hutchinson, the wife of William Hutch- 
inson, of Lincolnshire, " a woman of a ready wit and a 
bold spirit." ^ Such was her admirable understanding, that 
even her enemies could never speak of her without acknowl- 
edging her eloquence and ability. Soon after her arrival 
she became a member of the Boston church, and, finding 

• Winthrop, i. 239. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 43 

that women were debarred from speaking in the religious 
meetings of the week, and believing that " the elder wo- 
men " should " teach the younger," she " established sepa- 
rate female assemblies, of which she was the leader, and 
in which her didactic powers and her gifts in devotional 
performances were conspicuously exercised." ^ These gath- 
erings embraced many foremost members of the sex, and 
became immensely popular. The discussions were wholly 
based upon religious themes ; and much ability was dis- 
played in the expounding of passages of Scripture, and the 
resolution of questions of doctrine. In thought and feeling 
they were " mothers' meetings " of a genuine order. » 

Mrs. Hutchinson received encouragement not from her 
female associates alone. John Wheelwright, who had mar- 
ried her husband's sister, pubhcly advocated her opinions ; 
and even Mr. Cotton and Governor Vane openly avowed 
themselves her firm supporters. This opened the eyes of 
the people at large, of whom hundreds soon began to re- 
gard her with great admiration. The majority of the mem- 
bers of the Boston church were so " tinctured with her 
views," that Mr. Wheelwright was " called to be a teacher 
there ; " but the eloquence of Mr. Winthrop defeated this 
proposal, and Mr. Wheelwright was, instead, " called to a 
new church, to be gathered at Mount WoUaston," now 
Braintree. ^ 

Meanwhile the popularity of Mrs. Hutchinson increased 
to such an extent, and the opposition of some of the clergy 
became so formidable, that a theological warfare burst out 
in many of the churches. Contrary to the teachings of the 
ministers, Mrs. Hutchinson maintained that " outward signs 
of discipleship might be displayed by a hypocrite, and hence 

' Barry, i. 245. « Winthrop, i. 241. Hubbard, 286, seq. 



44 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

that the ' sanctification ' which embraced these signs was 
not infallible evidence of 'justification,' or true Christian 
discipleship. The clergy, also, who were believers in the 
personality of the Holy Ghost, denied, for the most part, 
his union with the regenerate in any sense ; but Mrs. 
Hutchinson, understanding this phrase to include an embodi- 
ment of spiritual graces or gifts, maintained that in the 
true Christian these graces and the Spirit had their abode ; 
or, in the language of her accusers, that there was an 
' indwelling of the person of the Holy Ghost ' in the heart 
of the true believer, ' so as to amount to a personal union ' 
— a doctrine which, in their estimation, made ' the believer 
more than a creature,' and which some censured as rank 
' Montanism.' " ^ 

The magistrates and ministers now resolved to prosecute 
Mrs. Hutchinson as a heretic, and a long and tedious 
wrangle ensued. At length the opposers of Mrs. Hutchin- 
son proved stronger than her friends, and by the former 
every effort was put forth to suppress " the Hutchinsonian 
heresy." An order was passed prohibiting the admission 
of strangers into the colony without permission. Fierce 
speeches were made. Mr. Wilson, the pastor of the Boston 
church, harangued the multitude from a tree, into which 
he had climbed. In the midst of the excitement. Vane 
was turned out of the government, and in August, 1637, 
returned to England.^ 

On the 30th of the same month a synod met at Newtown, 
at which were present " all the teaching elders throughout 
the country, and some new come out of England."^ This 
was the first inquisitorial council ever convened in Massa- 

> Barry, i. 248. ^ Johnson, in 2 M. II. Coll., iv. 34. 

* Authorities, ut supra. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 45 

chusetts ; and it had for its main purpose the condemnation 
of heresy and the settlement of the faith of all future genera- 
tions. It is unnecessary to record the full proceedings of this 
synod, which opened with the " emptying of private passions," 
and closed in full harmony and understanding. During its 
session the public meetings of Mrs. Hutchinson were con- 
demned, and certain questions of church discipline were, 
" through the grace and power of Christ, discovered, the 
defenders of them convinced and ashamed, the truth estab- 
lished, and the consciences of the saints settled, there being 
a most wonderful presence of Christ's spirit in that assembly 
held at Cambridge." ^ A three weeks' session having termi- 
nated " comfortably and cheerfully," the followers of " un- 
lawful heresy " ceased to be formidable. At the next meet- 
ing of the General Court, however, it was " agreed to send 
away some of the principal " offenders. Mr. Wheelwright, 
who was accused of being as " busy in nourishing contentions 
as before," was banished from Massachusetts. Attended by 
a few faithful followers, he journeyed to New Hampshire, and 
laid the foundations of Exeter.^ Mr. Cotton returned to the 
"bosom of the church, never more to depart." The last 
victim remained to be punished, and this was Mrs. Hutchin- 
son herself. She, "being convented," says the record, "for 
traducing the ministers and their ministry in the country, 
was thereupon banished, and in the mean while was commit- 
ted to Mr. Joseph Welde, of Roxbury, until the court shall 
dispose of her." ^ Mr. Cotton himself, now " fully satisfied 
that he had been made her stalking-horse," and being urged 

' Shepard, in McKenzie, First Church in Camb., 57. 

* Winthrop, i. 338: "Upon the acknowledgment of his evil carriages, he 
■was received again as a member of this colony," says Mass. Records, 
iii. 6. 

3 Mass. Records, i. 207-226. 



46 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

to do SO, " pronounced the sentence of admonition with 
great solemnity, and with much zeal and detestation of her 
errors and pride of spirit." 

This was the unkindest cut of all. The " American 
Jezebel," worried by her tormentors, and excommunicated in 
due form, followed her husband to Narragansett. From the 
island of Aquidneck, the ill-fated woman, now left a widow, 
removed, in 1642, into the territory of the Dutch, where, in 
the following year, she, her son-in-law, and all their family, 
save one child, perished by the rude weapons of Indian 
savages. Thus her stormy life found a stormy close ; and 
so ended also the Antinomian strife in Massachusetts. " The 
principles of Anne Hutchinson," says Bancroft, " were a 
natural consequence of the progress of the reformation. 
She had imbibed them in Europe ; and it is a singular fact, 
though easy of explanation, that, in the very year in which 
she was arraigned at Boston, Descartes, like herself a refugee 
from his country, like herself a prophetic harbinger of 
the spirit of the coming age, established philosophic liberty 
on the method of free reflection. Both asserted that the 
conscious judgment of the mind is the highest authority to 
itself. Descartes did but promulgate, under the philosophic 
form of free reflection, the same ti'uth which Anne Hutchin- 
son, with the fanaticism of impassioned conviction, avowed 
under the form of inward revelations." ^ 

Before the controversy with Mrs. Hutchinson had ended, 
the religious strife, disturbing the peace and harmony of the 
colonists, was still further increased by the arrival at Boston, 
in 1636, of Samuel Gorton. Tliis man, a citizen of London, 
was branded, at the time, as " a proud and pestilent seducer, 
laden with blasphemies and familistical opinions." He left 

' Hist. U. S., i. 391. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 47 

Boston after a short season, and settled at Plymouth ; but he 
spent the most of his time in Rhode Island, where, says a 
writer, " he was almost constantly in office ; and during a 
long life there is no instance of record of any reproach or 
censure cast upon him." ^ 

While living at Plymouth, however, he fell into a dispute 
with both the ministers and the magistrates, and was not only 
sentenced to pay a heavy fine, but was even ordered to leave 
the place within fourteen days. In the " extremity of 
winter," 1638, he departed for Rhode Island, where he was 
again punished for misconduct. At length he found shelter 
under the roof of Roger Williams, and behaved himself so 
ungraciously, that a majority of the inhabitants of Providence, 
"fearful that Gorton would expel them from their posses- 
sions," requested the interference of the magistrates of Massa- 
chusetts. Without delay, the colonial authorities assumed 
jurisdiction over the settlement. But Gorton, who was wont 
to say that " heaven was not a place ; there was no heaven 
but in the hearts of good men, no hell but in the mind," ^ 
was as insubordinate as ever before ; and, having purchased 
of Miantonomo a parcel of land at Shawomet, now Warwick, 
he, with eleven associates, removed thither. Another diffi- 
culty arose, and Massachusetts issued a warrant requiring 
the appearance of the inhabitants of Shawomet at Boston. 
To this a reply was transmitted : " If you put forth your 
hand to us as countrymen, ours are in readiness for you ; if 
your sword be drawn, ours is girt upon our thigh ; if you 
present a gun, make haste to give the first fire, for we are 
come to put fire upon the earth, and it is our desire to have 
it speedily kindled." ^ A second warrant was issued, and 

' Savage on Winthrop, ii. 70, seq. Hubbard, chf 47. 

=* Bancroft, i. 419. » 3 M. H. Coll., i. 5-15. 



48 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

troops were sent to enforce it. In quick haste Gorton and 
his friends were arrested, marched through the streets of 
Boston, and at the next court the leader himself was con- 
demned as a blasphemer. The whole party " were confined 
with irons upon their legs, kept at work for their living, 
and their cattle and goods were taken to defray the expenses 
of the court." ^ The men were released in the spring of 
1643, because, as it appears, the people were murmuring at 
the severity of their rulers, and shortl}^ afterwards returned 
to Shawomet, and there lived out their lives without further 
molestation. Gorton and his partisans were, confessedly, 
advocates for liberty of conscience, and avowed enemies to 
colonial independence. The conduct of Massachusetts in 
this whole affair was not only impolitic, but equally unjust ; 
and it can only be accounted for on the ground that the 
magistrates were betrayed into a stretch of authority by their 
zeal for the suppression of heresy. 

The contest of 1637 ended in the re-election of Mr. Win- 
throp as governor, and of Mr. Dudley deputy governor. 
With the exception of four years, — Mr. Dudley was governor 
in 1640 and 1645, Mr. Bellingham in 1641, and Mr. John 
Endicott in 1644, — Mr. Winthrop continued in office until 
his death, in 1649. His administration was not only a 
complete triumph for himself, but was also one of great 
prosperity for the colony. Scarcely a week passed without 
witnessing the arrival of new emigrants, and the progress 
of settlement was proportionally rapid. Hingham was 
settled in 1634. Concord, Newbury, and Dedham were 
incorporated in the following year. Between this date 
and 1643, the towns of Salisbury, Lynn, North Chelsea, 
Rowley, Sudbury, Braintree, Woburn, Gloucester, Haver- 

' Barry, i. 265. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 49 

hill, Wenbam, and Hull were incorporated. Springfield was 
made a town in 1636. In 1643, four counties were erected — 
Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex, and Old Norfolk, together com- 
prising just thirty towns.-^ 

One of the results of the intercourse between the Plym- 
outh colonists and the Dutch was the discovery of the 
Connecticut River. The region lying along its banks was 
marvellously fertile, and was generally recommended as 
a "fine place for habitation and trade." In the year 1633 
both the English and the Dutch laid claims to this newly- 
discovered country, the former by virtue of their patent, 
the latter by right of occupation. A controversy arose, 
in which the Dutch were victorious. In 1635 certain of 
the Massachusetts colonists, " straitened for want of room," 
removed from Dorchester to Mattaneag, now Windsor, where 
the Plymouth people had erected a trading-house. In the 
following spring several residents of Newtown, including 
Mr. Hooker and Mr. Haynes, and numbering one hun- 
dred in all, set out for Connecticut. Pursuing their way 
" over mountain-to]3, and hill, and stream, through tangled 
woods and dismal swamps, it was a fortnight before they 
reached their haven of rest." 

During the summer, Captain Stone, Captain Norton, and 
John Oldham fell victims to the rapacity of the Pequots. 
This formidable tribe peopled the region lying between 
the Mystic and the Thames, and was able to muster no 
less than seven hundred warriors. The English demanded 
reparation for the murders which had been committed, and 
threatened to declare war if the request were unheeded. 
The Indians refused the demand, and secreted themselves 
at Block Island. An expedition, embracing between eighty 

' Mass. Eecords, ii. 38. 



50 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and ninet}'' men, under the command of Endicott, departed 
from the colony in the autumn of 1636, and proceeded rapidly 
into the land of the enemy, bearing a commission to " put 
to death the men of Block Island, but to spare the women 
and children ; and from thence to go to the Pequots to 
demand the murderers of Captain Stone and other English, 
and one thousand fathoms of wampum for damages, and some 
of their children as hostages, which if they should refuse, they 
were to obtain it by force." ^ The party landed at Block 
Island, revelled for two days in scenes of devastation, and 
then sailed for Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut. 

Here Endicott received a fresh supply of boats and men 
from the commander of the fort at Saybrook, and, again 
setting out, the party entered the Pequot River, now the 
Thames, and held a parley with the savages. This, how- 
'€ver, amounted to nothing ; and so, after having committed 
further devastation, the troops, flushed with success, returned 
home to Boston. 

Ere long the rumor was spread abroad that the Pequots 
"were seeking to induce the Narragansetts to unite with them 
in exterminating the English. To Roger Williams, who 
alone exerted any influence among the Narragansetts, the 
colonists now looked for assistance. Only a little while 
i before, Williams had been unjustly expelled from the colony, 
. simply because he had evolved " from the alembic of his 
own soul the sublime principle of liberty of conscience," 
and had dared to affirm that " the ecclesiastical should be 
wholly divorced from the civil power, and that the church 
-and the magistracy should each be confined to its appro- 
ipriate sphere." Endless difficulties conspired to render 
^Jiis presence obnoxious, and his teachings " erroneous and 

' Winthrop, i. 229. 




GOVERNOR WINTHROP. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 51 

dangerous " to his " associates in the church of Christ." 
Being constantly persecuted both by the church and the 
state, and arraigned on a charge of sedition, he was brought 
to trial, and sentenced " to depart out of our jurisdiction 
within six weeks, all the ministers, save one, approving 
the sentence." ^ Leaving Salem in the winter of 1635, the 
magnanimous exile turned his steps towards the shores of 
the Narragansett Bay. "Moving to the other side of the 
water," he, with five others, laid the foundations of Provi- 
dence. On his first arrival he secured the friendship of the 
Narragansetts, whose sachem, Canonicus, "loved him as his 
son to the last gasp." The chiefs gave him lands on which 
to build his colony, while he, in turn, again gave away 
to his friends " until he gave away all." ^ 

It cannot be denied that Roger Williams was the victim 
of one of the most blind-guided persecutions that has ever 
raged within the borders of this state. Still it ought to 
be remembered that his sentence of banishment was not 
passed without reluctance. When Governor Winthrop was 
urged to sign the order, he replied, " I have done enough of 
that work already," and to the very day of his death sought 
to have the cruel sentence revoked. It is not a little 
remarkable that nearly all of those who were foremost in 
procuring the banishment of Mr. Williams lived long enough 
to repent of the ignominious transaction. And behold the 
magnanimity of the founder of Rhode Island ! Fearless 
in his attacks on the spirit of intolerance, the doctrine of 
persecution, he never permitted himself to traduce either 
his oppressors or the colony of Massachusetts. " I did ever 

> Winthrop, i. 204. 

* Backus, i. 290. One of the most eloquent tributes ever paid to tliis noble- 
ininded man is tliat of Bancroft, U. S., i. 367-382. 



52 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

from my soul honor and love them, even when their judg- 
ment led them to afiQict me," are his own words.^ It is 
not strange, indeed, that " many hearts were touched with 
relen tings." 

To such a man it was that the colonists, in their sore 
distress, had the face to turn for assistance. Nor was their 
entreaty vain. Having received letters from Vane and 
the council of Massachusetts urging him to prevent the 
l^.ague, Roger Williams, "putting his life in his hands," 
embarked in a frail canoe, and hastened to the house of 
the sachem of the Narragansetts. Already the Pequot am- 
bassadors had arrived before him, and were skilfully ply- 
ing arguments in their own behalf. For three days and 
nights the conference continued. But the eloquence of 
Williams finally prevailed, and, a few days later, Mian- 
tonomo and two sons of Canonicus repaired to Boston, and 
there signed a treaty of peace and alliance. 

The Pequots, having thus been foiled in their negotia- 
tions, " set out upon a course of greater insolence than be- 
fore, and slew all they found in the way." Not a day passed 
which did not bear witness to some new tragedy, and the 
most heartless cruelties were perpetrated. Roused to im- 
mediate action, a court was convened at Hartford, and war 
was decreed. Ninety men were mustered into service, and 
placed under the command of Captain John Mason, who 
had fought under Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Netherlands. 
Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, with about eighty war- 
riors, joined with the English as an 2^y. 

On the 25th of May, 1G37, Captain Mason, with his little 
force, encamped " near a swamp, between two hills, on land 
now in Groton, about two miles from Fort Mystic, where 

• Savage on Winthrop. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 53 

the Peqiiots had assembled to hold their festival, aided 
by the light of a brilliant moon." Before daybreak an 
attack was made upon the fort. Captain Mason advanced 
upon one entrance, and Captain Underbill npon the other. 
An Indian sentinel, awakened by the barking of a dog, 
spread the alarm, and at once a fierce encounter ensued. 
The savages outnumbered their assailants nearly four to 
one, and, fighting hand to hand, victory was tardy. " We 
must burn them ! " shouted Mason ; and at the word a 
brand was seized, and the wigwams were fired. With 
terrific speed the flames rolled on. The carnage was com- 
plete. In about an hour the frightful work was ended, 
and the rising sun bore witness of a triumph. Nearly 
six hundred Indians, men, women, and children, perished 
in this scene. The flower of the tribe was gone. Although 
the gallant Mason was forced to encounter three hundred 
or more Pequots, as they proudly advanced from their 
second fort, he succeeded in routing them 'also, and making 
good his escape to Hartford. 

A few days later, the Massachusetts troops, commanded 
by Captain Israel Stoughton, of Dorchester, arrived, and 
united with Captain Mason. The main body of the fugitive 
Pequots was pursued into a swamp ; their wigwams were 
burned, and Sassacus, their sachem, was murdered. Re- 
duced to utter want, those who survived — about two hun- 
dred in all — surrendered to the English, by whom they 
were distributed among the other tribes. On the return 
of the troops, a day of thanksgiving was ordered to be . 
observed, in which all the towns participated. Thus ended 
the first Indian war in New England. Its best result was, 
that it struck terror into the hearts of the savages, and 
secured a long peace. 



64 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER III. 
THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 

A STUDY of the civil policy of the Massachusetts colony 
reveals the fact that sturdy and rigid Puritanism lay at 
the basis of all legislation. The people themselves placed 
greater faith in the five points of Calvinism than in the 
five points of a well-founded government — an hereditary 
monarchy, an estabhshed church, an order of nobility, a 
standing army, and a military police. Upon all occasions, 
and under all circumstances, they subordinated the govern- 
ment to the church, and believed that no sort of govern- 
ment was admissible which was not so shaped as to secure 
the life and welfare of the church. " When a common- 
wealth," they af&rmed, " hath liberty to mould his own 
frame, the Scripture hath given full direction for the order- 
ing of the same, and that in such sort as may best main- 
tain the euexia of the church." And again : " Better the 
commonwealth be fashioned to the setting forth of God's 
house, which is his church, than tp accommodate the church 
frame to the civil estate." ^ It is always well to bear this 
truth in mind, when one is disposed to censure and explain 
the actions of our forefathers. 

The colonists possessed many invaluable rights, of which 
the charter of Charles I. was the cherished palladium. 
They held their lands as their own possessions, and forbade 

» Hutchinson, Coll., 27, 437. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONTES. 55 

strangers planting " at any place within the limits of the 
patent without leave from the governor and assistants, or 
the major part of them." We have already seen in what 
manner they dealt with those persons whose religious views 
they considered " dangerous." " If we be here a corpora- 
tion," they maintained, " established by free consent, if the 
place of our cohabitation be our own, then no man hath 
right to come in to us without our consent." When Vane 
became governor, he opposed this spirit of limitation ; but 
Winthrop's reply prevailed. " The intent of the law," said 
he, " is to preserve the welfare of the body, and, for this 
end, to have none received into any fellowship with us 
who are likely to disturb the same ; and this intent, I am 
sure, is lawful and good." ^ 

In 1631 it was ordered that " no man shall be admitted 
to the freedom of this body politic but such as are members 
of some of the churches of the same." A most arbitrary 
law was this ; for in no way can piety be promoted at 
the jeopardy of freedom and of justice. The purpose of 
its makers was evidently to build up a Puritan community 
on as exclusive a foundation as was that of the English 
Church during the reign of King James. It was as much 
a political regulation as it was a sectarian scruple. Such a 
policy was, unquestionably, a great mistake. As a writer 
has well said, "It vested undue power in the clergy and 
the church. It established a practical oligarchy of select 
religious votaries. It debarred from the exercise of the 
elective franchise all, however honest, who were unwilling 
to conform to the standard of colonial orthodoxy. But at 
the same time, it may be doubted whether a different policy 
could have been safely adopted without subjecting the 

' Hutchinson, Coll., 67-100. 



56 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

colonists to what they would have regarded as the greatest 
of all evils — the intrusion of a body of men inimical to 
their views, whose aim would have been to subvert their 
church and destroy their government." ^ 

In 1634 another order was framed, compelling every male 
resident, twenty years old and upwards, not a freeman, 
to acknowledge, under oath, his subjection to the colonial 
government, and to promise obedience to the same. These 
three enactments thus secured " the allegiance of all not 
entitled to the immunities of citizenship." 

By the terms of the colonial charter, the principal officers 
were to be chosen directly by the freemen. So soon as a 
settlement was formed, it was ruled that the governor and 
deputy should be chosen by the assistants from among 
themselves, and these assistants by the freemen. In the 
following year, however, it became lawful for the " com- 
mons " to propose the names of such persons as they wished 
should be chosen as assistants ; and shortly afterwards it 
was agreed that all officers should be " chosen anew every 
year by the whole court." The substitution of delegates to 
represent the freemen was an early proceeding, and in 
1632 " every town chose two men to be at the next court, 
to advise with the governor and assistants about the raising 
of a public stock, so as what they should agree upon should 
bind all." ^ In May, 1634, a House of Representatives was 
established, composed of twenty-four delegates. But even 
then the relative power of the officers and delegates was 
undetermined, and a discussion upon the point arose, when 
the people of Newtown requested permission to remove to 
Connecticut, which culminated in a political controversy 
of many years' duration. 

' Barry, i. 270. * Mass. Records, i. 87, seq. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 57 

In 1635 four of the magistrates were deputed to frame 
a body of laws which should bear a " resemblance to a 
Magna Charta." Nearly six years were spent before the 
code was finally completed. This " Body of Liberties," 
so called, comprised one hundred laws, and was adopted in 
December, 1641. Nathaniel Ward, of Ipswich, was the 
compiler of the. system ; and " as the author of the funda- 
mental code," says Bancroft, " he is the most remarkable 
among all the early legislators of Massachusetts ; he had been 
formerly a student and practiser in the courts of common 
law in England, but became a non-conforming minister ; so 
that he was competent to combine the humane doctrines of 
the common law with the principles of natural right and 
equality, as deduced from the Bible." ^ 

We may here enumerate some of the more important 
features of this code. All general officers were to be 
elected annually, and recompensed from the common fund. 
The freemen in the several towns were to choose depu- 
ties from among themselves, " or elsewhere, as they judged 
fittest, who were to be paid from the treasury of the respec- 
tive towns, and to serve ' at the most but one year.' " 
Twelve capital offences were recognized. Life, liberty, 
honor, and property were constantly under the protection 
of the law. Every man was promised equal justice under 
all circumstances, and had the liberty to move any question 
or present any petition at any court, council, or town meet- 
ing. All property was to be free from fines, and the disposi- 
tion of the same by will was carefully secured and guarded. 
The rights of widows were respected, and the protection 
of the law was thrown around orphans. A refuge was 
granted to shipwrecked mariners, and their goods were 

' Bancroft, i. 41G. 

8 



58 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

defended against spoliation. Slavery was prohibitea, ex- 
cept in the case of "lawful captives taken in just war, 
and such strangers as willingly sell themselves, or are sold 
to us ; " all such, however, were " to have all the liber- 
ties and Christian usages which the law of God estab- 
lished in Israel required." The old practice of wife-whip- 
ping was absolutely forbidden, although th© court reserved 
the right of " chastisement " under just reasons. " Inhu- 
man, cruel, or barbarous " modes of bodily punishments 
were not allowable ; and " no true gentleman, nor any 
man equal to a gentleman, was to be punished with whip- 
ping, unless his crime was very shameful, and his course 
of life vicious and profligate." Death was the penalty only 
for murder, adultery, man-stealing, rape, and bearing false 
witness wittingly to deprive any man of life. With re- 
gard to religious matters, all who were orthodox in judg- 
ment, and not scandalous in daily life, could become mem- 
bers of a church estate, and exercise all the ordinances of 
God. Such is a brief transcript of the Body of Liberties, 
which, " embracing the freedom of the commonwealth, of 
municipalities, of persons, and of churches according to the 
principles of Independency, exhibits the truest picture of 
the principles, character, and intentions of that people, and 
the best evidence of its vigor and self-dependence." ^ 

Says a quaint old writer, whose prophetic words may 
here fittingly find a place, " The air of New England, 
and the diet, equal if not exceUing that of Old England, 
besides their honor of marriage, and careful preventing 
and punishing of furtive congression,* giveth them and us 
no small hope of their future puissance and multitude of 
subjects. Herein, saith the wise man, cousisteth the 

' Bancroft, i. 418, 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 59 

strength of a king, and likewise of a nation or kingdom." ^ 
The moral condition of the people of New England, at this 
period, was equal, if not superior, to that of any other nation 
on the face of the globe. 

Meanwhile a storm of no small magnitude was brewing. 
While the colonists were thus perfecting the civil policy 
of the commonwealth, " a thousand eyes were watching over 
them to pick a hole in their coats." ^ The severe disci- 
pline which had been exercised by the government at 
Salem and elsewhere produced an early harvest of ene- 
mies, of whom several, breathing revenge, returned to 
England, and there murmured comjDlaints in the ears of 
Mason and Gorges. These two gentlemen, who had wasted 
thousands of pounds in fruitless attempts at colonization, 
now became jealous of the Massachusetts colony, and pre- 
sented a petition to the lords of the privy council, " com- 
plaining of distractions and disorders in the colony," and 
demanding the speedy recall of its charter. The news of 
these proceedings reached Boston in February, 1G33. 

But New England, however, had her able defenders in 
the mother country, who were not afraid to speak in her 
behalf. Sir Richard Saltonstall, John Humphrey, and Mat- 
thewCradock, having broached the matter before the coun- 
cil, were assured " that his majesty did not intend to 
impose the ceremonies of the Church of England " upon 
the colonists, "as it was considered that it was the freedom 
from such things that made people come over to the colo- 
ny." ^ When these second tidings reached Boston, in May, 
a day was appointed for thanksgiving. 

Although the spirit of revenge had been defeated, it did 
not slumber. Although the king had shown himself gra- 

' 3 M. H. Coll., vi. 42. « 3 M. H. Coll., ix. 244. ^ Winthrop, ii. 119-123. 



60 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ciously disposed to his subjects abrocad, he proved the tj^rant 
to those at home. " Many of the best, both ministers and 
Christians," left England for America ; and the extent of 
emigration was so great that it was deemed " a more ill- 
boding sign to the nation than the portentous blaze of 
comets, and the impressions in the air, at which astrologers 
are dismayed." ^ Dignitaries of the church and state be- 
came alarmed, and a warrant was issued, in 1634, to stay 
the departure of several vessels, which were then ready to 
sail for New England. 

Nor was this all. In the same year, by royal decree, 
the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, and ten others, 
were constituted a commission to regulate and govern the 
New England plantations, both temporally and spiritually; 
and on the 1st of May, three days later, a general governor 
was appointed, and vessels were provided for his transfer 
to this countr3^ 

It was not long before the colonists received intelligence 
of these doings. The greatest excitement was produced. 
Poor as were the settlements, it was unanimously resolved 
to aj)propriate six hundred pounds for purposes of defence. 
Provisions were made for the erection of a fort at Boston, 
another at Castle Island, and for raising fortifications 
at Dorchester and Charlestown. All of the ministers were 
summoned to Boston, and their opinions were consulted. 
It was agreed that, if a general governor should be sent, 
he ought not to be accepted. " We ought," said the fathers, 
" to defend our lawful possessions, if we are able ; and 
otherwise, to avoid or protract." ^ In the fall of 1634, Mr. 
Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, was sent to England as 
"joint agent for the colonies of Plymouth and Massachu- 

> Bancroft, i. 406. Winthrop, i. 171-183. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 61 

setts," in order to " obtain a commission to withstand tlie i 

intrusions of the French and the Dutch at the east and at ■'' 

the west." He arrived safely, and was received favorably 
by the lords. Ere long, however, he was arrested by order 
of Archbishop Laud, and held a prisoner four months. 

Although one evil step naturally led to another, neither 
could emigration be wholly stopped, nor was the courage 
of the colonists relaxed. For some years previous, the New 
England Council, whose affairs, though not always philo- 
sophical, were nevertheless conducted by a proud company 
of philosophers, had been involved in controversies with 
the rival Virginia Company and Parliament. It had, at this 
period, little or no authority in the New World, and was 
already on the point of dissolution. "Several of the com- 
pany desired, as individuals, to become the proprietors of 
extensive territories, even at the dishonor of invalidating 
all their grants as a corporation. The hope of acquiring 
principalities subverted the sense of justice. A meeting of 
the lords was duly convened, and the whole coast, from 
Acadia to beyond the Hudson, being divided into shares, 
was distributed, in part at least, by lots. Whole provinces 
gained an owner by the drawing of a lottery." ^ In June, 
1635, after presenting to the king the " humble petition of 
Edward, Lord Gorges, president of the Council of New 
England, in the name of himself and divers lords and 
others of the said council," praying him "to' order Mr^ 
Attorney General to draw patents " for confirmation of their 
several parcels of land, a formal act of surrender of the 
charter was executed, giving up "all and every the liber- 
ties, licenses, powers, privileges, and authorities therein 
granted." ^ 

' Bancroft, i. 408. « Barry, i. 288. Hubbard, 272. 



62 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

The affair had now reached its most serious turn, and 
the colonists were in a state of intense perplexity. It was 
said in England that they were sworn to resist any inijust 
invasion of their rights. Whereupon the king and his coun- 
cil, fearful of the unbridled spirit of the Americans, re- 
solved to carry out his measures of oppression still farther. 
A qxio warranto was immediately brought against the Com- 
pany of the Massachusetts Bay, and against fourteen of its 
members judgment was pronounced individually. At the 
same time, all the " liberties, privileges, and franchises " 
of the said company were " taken and seized into the king's 
hands." It must not be supposed, however, that by this 
proceeding the charter which had been granted to the 
Massachusetts Company was revoked. The death of Mason, 
the chief mover of all these aggressions, suspended, for a 
while at least, further interference. 

Meanwhile the colony was forced to deal harshly with 
enemies at home. A man named Burdet, who was in 
reality a spy of Laud, had sent to England various charges, 
accusing the colonists of aiming " at sovereignty," and as- 
serting that " it was accounted treason in their General 
Courts to speak of appeals to the king." In July, 1638, 
a letter was received at Boston, from the clerk of the 
privy council, containing a demand for the return of the 
patent. The people sent over a reply, saying that it would 
not " be best to send back the patent, because their friends 
in England would conceive that it was surrendered, and 
therefore the colony would be bound to receive such a gov- 
ernor and such orders as might be sent to them, and many 
bad and weak minds would think it lawful, if not neces- 
sary, to accept a general governor." ^ In their petition to 

' Winthrop, i. 323, seq. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 63 

the king they wrote, "We came into these remote parts 
with his majesty's license and encouragement, under his 
great seal of England, and in the confidence we had of 
the assurance of his favor, we have transported our fami- 
lies and estates ; and if our patent should now be taken 
from us, many thousand souls will be exposed to ruin, 
being laid open to the injuries of all men ; the rest of the 
plantations about us, if we leave the place, will, for the 
most part, dissolve and go with us, and then the whole 
country will fall into the hands of the French or the 
Dutch ; if we should lose all our labor, and be deprived 
of those liberties which his majesty hath granted us, and 
nothing laid to our charge, nor any failing found in point 
of allegiance, it will discourage all men hereafter from the 
like ■ undertakings upon confidence of his majest3^'s royal 
grant ; and lastly, if our patent be taken from us, the 
common people will conceive that his majesty hath cast 
them off, and that hereby they are freed from all alle- 
giance and subjection, and therefore will be ready to con- 
federate themselves under a new government, for their 
necessary safety and subsistence, which will be a danger- 
ous example to other plantations, and perilous to our- 
selves, if incurring his majesty's displeasure, which we 
would by all means avoid." The petition eoiicludes, 
" Let us be made the objects of his majesty's clemency, 
and not cut off in our first appeal from all hope of favor. 
Thus with our earnest prayer unto the King of kings 
for long life and prosperity to his sacred majesty and his 
royal family, and for all honor and welfare to your lord- 
ships, we humbly take leave." ^ 

But there was now no time to oppress New England, 

1 Hubbard, 269-271. 



64 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

for King Charles's attention was involved in the' insur- 
rection in Scotland. The throne began to totter, and Eng- 
land itself was all ablaze. A letter received in June, 1639, 
from Mr. Cradock bore the intelligence that the lords had 
accepted the petition of the colonists, and had no inten- 
tion to curtail their liberties. The troubles which terminated 
in the overthrow and death of Charles happily averted any 
further attempts to obtain possession of the colonial pat- 
ent. The perplexities of the people, however, had already 
aroused a spirit of independence. The government was 
fast " hardening into a republic ; " and a sturdy resist- 
ance against all encroachment was the watchword of the 
hour. The colonists were hoping, indeed, to be "joined 
together in one common bond."^ It remains to be seen 
in what manner this cherished union was fulfilled. 

The establishment of a confederacy among the Puritan 
colonies of New England was an all-important measure. 
As early as in 1637, immediately after the victories over 
the Pequots, such a union had been proposed. In the 
following year, the proposition came again into discussion, 
and articles of confederation were sent to the General 
Court at Newtown, which declined to accept them. 
Owing to other miscarriages, the union was not effected. 
In May, 1639, Mr. Haynes, the governor of the Hart- 
ford colony, and the Rev. Mr. Hooker visited Boston for 
the purpose of renewing the treaty. Bat once more nego- 
tiations were checked. 

About this time the people of New Hampshire, having 
long been harassed by vexatious proprietary claims, and 
left wholly to shift for themselves, gave token of a desire 
to come under the government of Massachusetts. The 

» Hubbard, 366. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. ^'c, 

people of Dover and of Portsmouth had combined them- 
selves into bodies-politic, like their neighbors at Exeter. 
In 1640, four distinct governments, including one at 
Kittery, were established near the Piscataqua. Not one 
of these settlements was sure of a long continuance, and 
under the ruling circumstances it was deemed utterly 
impossible to form a general government. In con- 
sequence of the unsafety of their situation, the " lords 
and gentlemen " at Dover and Strawberry Bank, who held 
patents, " finding no means to govern the people," mutu- 
ally agreed in 1G41 to resign their interest of jurisdiction 
to Massachusetts. In the following year Exeter followed 
their example.^ 

Some mention ought to be made here of troubles which 
arose with the French, who had made settlements near 
Cape Sable. These emigrants had been sent over to Amer- 
ica by Cardinal Richelieu, and included in their number 
several Jesuit priests. The IMassachu setts people, fearing 
that they might prove " ill neiglibors," agreed, in 1632, 
" to finish the fort at Boston, to erect another at Nan- 
tasket, and to commence a plantation at Ipswich, to bar 
their entrance should they make a descent upon the 
coast." In the autumn of that j'car. La Tour, " governor 
to the east of the St. Croix," visited Machias, and there 
violently asserted his claim to the place. Shortly after- 
wards Mr. Allerton, of Plymouth, was sent to demand 
of La Tour some reason for his misconduct. " My au- 
thority," responded the Frenchman, " is from the King of 
France, who claims the coast from Cape Sable to Cape 
Cod : I wish the English to understand that if they trade 
to the eastward of Pemaquid, I shall seize them ; my 

' Barry, i. 302. 



66 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

sword is all the commission I shall show ; when I want 
help, I will produce my authority." ^ 

In the next year, the commander of a pinnace, named 
Hocking, visited Kennebec, and insolently interfered with 
the trade, which the Plymouth people were there carry- 
ing on. In an encounter which ensued, Hocking killed 
one of the tradesmen, and was himself shot in return. 
One of the Plymouth magistrates, Mr. John Alden, who ' 
was a witness of this affair, was, at the instance of a kins- 
man of Hocking, arraigned on a charge of murder. The 
case was tried in Boston ; and Mr. Alden, being found 
not guilty, was discharged. 

Still another disturbance was created in the following 
year. D'Aulney, governor to the west of the St. Croix, 
sailing under a commission from Razilla, commandant of 
the fort at La Heve, made an attack upon the Plymouth 
trading-house at Penobscot, and rifled it of all its con- 
tents. An attempt was made to avenge this insult ; but 
it was not brought to any result. The foregoing en- 
croachments were some of the reasons why Mr. Winslow 
was sent to England as the agent of the colonies. For- 
tunately, at this point, troubles with the French ceased 
altogether, and neither party gave to the other any cause 
for apprehension. 

Turning now to the colonies themselves, it is well to 
glance at their condition at this period of their history. 
When the Puritans came over to America, they, just like 
the Pilgrims, already knew that their future success and 
prosperity depended wholly upon hard and persistent labor. 
When they arrived, they at once set to work as an agri- 
cultural people, toiling for their daily bread, and not yet 

' Winthrop, i. 117. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 67 

mindful of the wealth which might eventually crown their 
efforts. The misfortunes of the first winter, although se- 
vere, did not dishearten. With poverty staring them in 
the face, they learned those lessons of thrift, patience, and 
economy, which profited them through the remainder of 
their lives, and which their descendants have so advanta- 
geously cherished to this day. 

It was not to be expected that the immigrants could 
arrive from England bounteously supplied with all the 
necessaries of life. On tlie other hand, they did not set 
out on their perilous adventure without providing them- 
selves with the germs — so to speak — of their future opu- 
lence. Besides materials for building, they brought over 
with them articles of clothing for their families, tools and 
utensils for their husbandry, and a number of neat cat- 
tle, sheep, swine, and poultry. For several months they 
subsisted mainly on Indian corn, which they obtained 
from the natives, and such other wild products as the 
country afforded. As soon as the chill of winter departed, 
they began to break the land for their spring labors. Seeds 
were sown for their future harvests ; the soil proved rich 
and fertile, the air was salubrious, the waters pure.* Soon 
the young stalks of grain began to blossom in the fields. 
Fish was plentiful in the neighboring streams, and game 
of various kinds roamed freely in the forests. The pros- 
pect was encouraging, apd all were seemingly blessed 
with good cheer and content. In this manner the early 
planters sought to unveil the fruitfulness of New England. 
Before the beginning of the year 1643, nearly fifteen 
thousand acres of land were being cultivated for grain 
purposes, and at least one thousand acres had been worked 
into gardens and orchards. The number of neat cattle had 



68 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

increased to twelve thousand, and that of sheep to three 
thousand. 

Prosperity showed itself in other respects. Many of the 
colonists who had " had not enough to bring them over," 
were now worth, in stock and lands, hundreds of pounds. 
Surplus products were exchanged for furs, and the latter 
were soon shipped to England. In this way was laid the 
foundation of a thriving commerce. Moreover, " new build- 
ings, some even of brick, sprang up in every quarter of 
Boston ; markets were erected ; wharves stretched into the 
harbor ; native and foreign vessels were sent to the West 
Indies and to the Madeira Islands, and returned laden 
with sugar, oranges, wine, cotton, tobacco, and bullion ; 
and these, with the furs, and the products of the fish- 
eries at the Cape and at the Banks, including morse teeth 
and oil, procured in trij)s farther to the north, were sent 
to England to pay for the manufactured goods needed for 
their wants." ^ 

As wool, flax, and hemp were everywhere becoming plen- 
tiful, the colonists now turned their attention to manu- 
facturing. In the towns possessing good water privileges, 
mills were erected. Elsewhere, glass works wei'e com- 
menced, ship-yards opened, and at Lynn and Braintree, in 
the Massachusetts colony, and at Raynham, in Plymouth, 
iron founders •: were established. Although much energy 
and zeal wer6 displayed in these several investments, it was 
not until " the changes in England checked the flow of 
emigration from the Old World to the New, causing an im- 
mediate and remarkable reduction in the value of cattle, 
that manufactures assumed an increased importance, and 
were prosecuted with more vigor." ^ 

' Barry, i. 309. ^ Barry, i. 310. Winthrop, ii. 21, seq. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 69 

As many of the early settlers of the Massachusetts col- 
ony, and particularly the clergy, were men of a liberal 
education, and in some cases were graduates of English 
universities, it was not to be expected that they would 
permit the interests of education to be forgotten. It was 
always the custom, and it soon became a law, that " none 
of the brethren shall suffer so much barbarism in their 
families, as not to teach their children and apprentices 
so much learning as may enable them perfectly to read 
the English tongue." When the colonies had reached a 
suificient degree of prosperity, it was ordered that, " to 
the end that learning may not be buried in the graves 
of our forefathers, every township, after the Lord hath 
increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall 
appoint one to teach all children to write and read ; and - 
where any town shall increase to the number of one hun- 
dred families, they shall set up a grammar school ; the 
masters thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they 
may be fitted for the university." ^ 

Boston had been settled just six years, when, in the 
autumn of 1636, the General Court voted the sum of four 
hundred pounds — equal to a year's rate of the whole col- 
ony — towards the erection of "a school or college." One 
half of this amount was to be paid in the next year, 
and the balance when the work should be completed. 
On the loth of November, 1637, the college was " or- 
dered to be at Newtown ; " and in the following spring 
it was further ordered that " Newtown shall henceforward 
be called Cambridge," in honor of the seat of the alma 
mater of many of the emigrants. Before this year ended, 
John Harvard, a minister settled at Charlestown, shortly 

' Col. Laws, 74, 186. 



70 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

before his death bequeathed to the institution one half of 
his estate and the whole of his library. In return for this 
benefaction, it was ordered that the " college agreed upon 
formerly to be built at Cambridge shall be called Harvard 
College." 

Mr. Nathaniel Eaton was the first master of this "school," 
and had charge of its funds as well as of the buildings and 
pupils. Having demeaned himself in a " cruel and scanda- 
lous manner," and the parsimony of his wife having given 
rise to much complaint, Eaton was soon dismissed from his 
position, and his place supplied by another. " He was a 
mere Arbilius," says Hubbard, with righteous indignation, 
" fitter to have been an officer in the Inquisition, or master 
of an house of correction, than an instructor of Christian 
youth." ^ In 1638 was commenced the regular course of 
academic instruction ; and in 1642 nine young gentlemen 
were graduated and received degrees. This was the first 
commencement in the history of Harvard College. The 
graduates " were young men of good hope, and performed 
their acts so as gave good proof of their proficiency in the 
tongues and arts," writes Governor John Winthrop.^ The 
" theses " of the class have been preserved. In this same 
year a charter for the college was granted, and a board 
of overseers established. The " learned, reverend, and 
judicious Mr. Henry Dunster " now stood at the head of 
the seminary as its first president. For fourteen years he 
faithfully discharged the duties of his office, to the " great 
comfort " of his associates. 

In a small tract, entitled " New England's First Fruits," 
written in Boston, in 1642, and published in London in the 
next year, occurs the earliest contemporary account of the 

' Hist., 247. * Hist., u. 88. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 71 

founding of the college. It is extremely interesting as 
showing the spirit of the people in relation to the institu- 
tion. It says, — 

" After God had carried us safe to New England, and 
we had builded our houses, j)rovided necessaries for our 
livelihood, reared convenient places for God's worship, and 
settled the civill government, one of the next things we 
longed for and looked after was to advance learning and 
perpetuate it to posterity ; dreading to leave an illiterate 
ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall 
lie in the dust. And as we were thinking and consulting 
how to effect this great work, it pleased God to stir up the 
heart of one Mr. Harvard (a godly gentleman and a lover 
of learning, then living amongst us) to give the one half 
of his estate (it being in all about ITOOZ.) towards the 
erecting of a colledge and all his library. After him another 
gave 300Z. ; others after them cast in more, and the publique 
hand of the state added the rest. The colledge was by 
common consent appointed to be at Cambridge (a place 
very pleasant and accommodate), and is called (according 
to the name of its first founder) Harvard Colledge." The 
early appearance of the college is thus quaintly described 
in the same work : " The edifice is very faire and comely 
within and without, having in it a spacious hall, where they 
daily meet at commons, lectures, and exercises, and a large 
library with some bookes to it, the gifts of diverse of our 
friends, their chambers and studies also fitted for and 
possessed by the students, and all other roomes of ojBBce 
necessary and convenient, with all needful offices thereto 
belonging." 

The infant institution soon became a great favorite. All 
of the colonies contributed offerings towards its support ; 



72 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the state granted the use of a feny ; and magistrates and 
citizens were alike profuse in their liberality. In return, 
the college moulded the early character of the country. 
Indeed, its influence was such as to give cause of alarm to 
the commissioners of Charles II., who in their report wrote 
that, " It may be feared this college may afford as many 
scismaticks to the Church, and the Corporation as many 
rebells to the King, as formerly they have done if not 
timely prevented." The Marquis of Wellesley is accredited 
with having said to an American, many years later, " Estab- 
lishing a seminary in New England at so early a period of 
time hastened 3'^our revolution half a century." 

Nor were grammar schools unthought of at this period. 
As education was deemed to be an object of the highest 
importance, a law was passed compelling every town to 
support a district school within its limits. The school at 
Cambridge, under the charge of " Master Corlet," prepared 
students for the college. The schools at Watertgwn, Boston, 
Charlestown, Roxbury, Dorchester, those also in Plymouth 
and in Connecticut, e^ach sent thither its quota. " In these 
measures," says an historian, " especially in the laws estab- 
lishing common schools, lies the secret of the success and 
character of New England. Ever}'- child, as it was born 
into the world, was lifted from the earth by the genius of 
the country, and, in the statutes of the land, received, as its 
birthright, a pledge of the public care for its morals and 
its mind." ^ 

In 1639 the first printing press erected in New England 
was set up at Cambridge by Stephen Daye, at the charge 
of the Rev. Joseph Glover, who had brought over both 
pressmen and press from England. " The first thing 

• Bancroft, U. S., i. 459. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 73 

printed," says Winthrop in his Journal, "was 'The Free- 
man's Oath ; ' the next an Almanac made for New Eno-- 
land by Mr. Pierce, mariner ; the next was the Psalms 
newly turned into metre." The press soon fell into the 
possession of Samuel Green, who followed the printer's 
trade in Cambridge for more than forty years. In 1649 
he published the " Cambridge Platform," in 1660 the 
*'Laws of the Colony," and in 1685 the "Psalter," 
Eliot's " Catechism," Baxter's " Call," and the Bible in 
the Indian language. These several publications are now 
very rarely met with. 

In 1643, or thereabouts, the population of New England 
was not far from twenty-five thousand ; that of Massa- 
chusetts was about eighteen thousand. Among the number 
of the latter there were not a few restless minds, of whom 
some were already projecting new settlements in the Baha- 
mas. A plan of government was draughted, and a large 
number of families departed to the "new land." Erelong 
Spanish interference checked the progress of this dangerous 
scheme ; the settlers w^ere dispersed, and those who were 
so fortunate as to return to New England applied themselves 
to objects of more permanent value. 

And now the plan which had been so much talked about 
around firesides and in the General Court — the confederacy 
of the colonies — was again held up for public consideration. 
There was not the slightest doubt but that such a union 
was necessary, as much for the interests of religion as 
for the common safety. On the 19th of May, 1643, the 
initiatory step was taken. On this day commissioners from 
four of the colonies met in Boston, and agreed upon terms 
of confederation.! The articles were then signed by the 

' Bradford, 416. 

10 



74 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

commissioners from Massacliusetts, Connecticut, and New 
Haven ; but, inasmuch as the Plymouth delegates were 
not authorized to sign, the latter reported them to their 
General Court, which submitted them for ratification to the 
several towns. In this manner they were ratified by the 
people. On the 7th of September the measures had been 
confirmed ; and thus was formed the cenfederation of " The 
United Colonies of New England," the prototype of the 
North American Confederacy of 1774. The four jurisdic- 
tions comprised a population of about twenty-four thousand, 
living in thirty-nine towns. ^ 

The preamble to the articles of confederation reads as 
follows : " We all came into these parts of America with 
one and the same end and aim, viz. : to advance the kingdom 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the 
gospel in purity with peace ; and whereas by our settling, 
by the wise providence of God, we are further dispersed 
upon the sea-coast and rivers than was at first intended, so 
that we cannot, according to our desire, with convenience 
commttnicate in one government and jurisdiction ; and where- 
as we live encompassed with people of several nations and. 
strange languages, which hereafter may prove injurious to us 
or our posterity ; and forasmuch as the natives have for- 
merly committed sundry insolences and outrages upon several 
plantations of the English, and have of late combined them- 
selves against us, and seeing by reason of the sad distractions 
in England (which they have heard of) and by which they 
know we are hindered both from that humble way of seek- 
ing advice and reaping those comfortable fruits of protection 
which at other times we might well expect ; we therefore 
do conceive it our bounden duty, without delay, to enter 

> Wintlirop, ii. 119-127; Hubbard, 4G7, seq. 



THE CONFEDERACY OF THE COLONIES. 75 

into a present consociation among ourselves, for mutual 
help and strength in all future concernment, that as in 
nation and religion, so in other respects, we be and continue 
one, according to the true tenor and meaning of the ensuing 
articles." 

This explicit preamble is followed by twelve articles. 
The first fixes the name, " The United Colonies of New 
England." The second is a declaration of a perpetual 
league, with its purposes. The third asserts the right of 
jurisdiction of each colony within its own boundaries, and 
confines the confederacy to the four colonies forming it, 
until otherwise agreed. The fourth establishes the rule 
to be followed in the apportionment of colonial expenses in 
time of war. The fifth states the course to be pursued in 
case of any foreign invasion. The sixth gives to each 
colony the power to choose two commissioners, fully author- 
ized to act in its behalf. The seventh provides for the 
election of a president of the board. The eighth provides 
for the establishing of " agreements and orders in general 
cases of a civil nature," and for the preservation of justice 
in general. The ninth forbids each colony engaging in 
war, without the consent of the rest. The tenth, provides 
for calhng extraordinary meetings. The eleventh provides 
for cases arising from a breach of the articles ; and the 
twelfth ratifies and confirms the whole. ^ . 

This league generally met with the expectations of its 
founders. Remarkable for unmixed simplicity, it was yet 
strong in its purpose, and was virtually an assumption of 
the sovereignty of the people. Its existence was as unpre- 
meditated from early years as it was inevitable at the last. 
Majesty itself could not have prohibited it ; nor was it 

1 Winthrop, ii. 119-127. 



76 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

probably foreseen by the charter of Massachusetts. When 
the bond of union had been agreed upon, Thomas Hooker 
wrote to Governor Wiuthrop, in terms which disclose to 
us the elevated thought and exalted aims of the fathers 
of New England. 

" Much honored in our blessed Savior ! At the return 
of our magistrates, when I understood the gracious and 
desired success of their endeavor, and by the joint relation 
of them all, not only your Christian readiness, but enlarged 
faithfulness in an especial manner to promote so good a 
work, — my heart would not suffer me but as unfeignedly 
to acknowledge the Lord's goodness, so affectionately to 
remember your candid and cordial carriage in a matter of 
so great consequence ; laboring by your special prudence to 
settle a foundation of safety and prosperity in succeeding 
ages ; a work which will be found not only for your comfort, 
but for your crown at the great day of your account. It's 
the greatest good that can befall a man in this world to 
be an instrument under God to do a great deal of good. 
To be the repairer of the breach was of old counted 
matter of the highest praise and acceptance with God and 
man ; much more to be a means, not only to maintain peace 
and truth in your days, but to leave both as a legacy to those 
that come after until the coming of the Son of Man in the 
clouds." 1 

» 4 M. H. Coll., vi. 390. 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 77 



CHAPTER IV. 

MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES H. 

The revolution in England, wMcli dethroned and sent 
Charles I. to the scaffold, broke up the Court of High 
Commission, abolished the Star Chamber, and crushed the 
power of associate tyrants, exerted no small degree of in- 
fluence on the fortunes of New England. When the news 
first reached these shores that a new Parliament had been 
formed, and there was some hope of a reform, some of 
the Puritans " began to think of returning back to Eng- 
land, and others, despairing of further help from thence, 
turned their minds wholly to a removal to tjie south." 
The Long Parliament, which met in London in 1641, con- 
tained among its members many favorers of the Puritan 
plantations, some of whom, says Winthrop, " wrote to us 
advice to solicit for us in the Parliament, giving us hope 
that we might obtain much. But consulting about it, we 
declined the motion for this consideration, that if we 
should put ourselves under the protection of the Parlia- 
ment, we must then be subject to all such laws as they 
should make, or, at least, such as they might impose upon 
us." ^ The same sagacity was displayed by the settlers 
when they received letters, in the following year, invit- 
ing them to send deputies to the Westminster Assembly 
of divines. 

* Winthrop, iL 30. 



78 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

However, the colonists resolved to send Hugh Peters 
and two others to England, to " mediate ease in customs 
and excise ; " and their mission proved successful. So 
pleasant continued the relations between Parliament and 
the colonies, that in 1643 the former freed their imports 
and exports from all taxation, " until the House of Com- 
mons should take order to the contrary." The General 
Court of Massachusetts, feeling grateful for the ordinance, 
" entered it word for word on their records, as a memo- 
rial to posterity." Meanwhile the events of the. time gave 
rise to many political discussions. Abstract questions of 
government were freely debated ; public meetings were fre- 
quent ; and at every annual court one of the ministers 
was appointed to preach an " Election Sermon." In these 
discussions, wide differences of opinion were expressed, 
and there was manifested a growing jealousy, on the part 
of the people, of their highly aristocratical charter gov- 
ernment. Although the appointment, by Parliament, of a 
governor general of America was not quite pleasing to 
Massachusetts, the people still acknowledged their alle- 
giance to England; it was also ordered by the court, 
that " whosoever should endeavor to disturb the public 
peace, directly or indirectly, by drawing a party, under 
the pretence that he was for the King of England and 
such as joined with him against the Parliament, should 
be accounted an offender of a high nature against the 
commonwealth, to be proceeded with, either capitally 
or otherwise, according to the quality or degree of his 
offence." 

In 1645 several diflficulties arose within the colonies 
which called for the exercise of skilful diplomacy. Cer- 
tain parties, hostile to the government of Massachusetts, 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 79 

had returned to England bearing grievances and seeking 
a redress for the same. These disturbances, united to 
others of a rehgious nature, led to the appointment of 
a commission. Mr. Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, was 
sent to England to answer these charges, together with 
those of Gorton, should they be brought into Parliament. 
Mr. Winslow left Boston in December, 1646, and on 
arriving in England, he held interviews with Sir Henry 
Vane and the Earl of Warwick. These gentlemen re- 
ferred the case to Parliament, and the result was a vin- 
dication of the colonists. The complaints of Gorton and 
of others against them fell flat. The loyalty of Massa- 
chusetts thus procured the protection of Parliament in that 
it encouraged no appeals from its decisions, 'and left it 
with all the freedom and latitude that it might claim. 

Cromwell always manifested great love for the colonists, 
from whom, in return, he won the fullest confidence. 
After he had achieved his success in Ireland, he conceived 
the project of introducing Puritanism in that island, and 
invited the people of Massachusetts to remove thither. 
For just reasons the colonists declined the proposal, pre- 
ferring their own land and government, " the happiest 
and wisest this day in the "world." When this answer 
was returned to the lord protector, a petition was also 
sent, soliciting his intervention " to avert the sad conse- 
quences apprehended from the recall of the charter." 
" English history," says Bancroft, " must judge of Crom- 
well by his influence on the institutions of England ; the 
American colonies remember the years of his power as the 
period when British sovereignty was for them free from 
rapacity, intolerance, and oppression. He may be called 
the benefactor of the English in America ; for he left 



80 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

them to enjoy unshackled the liberal benevolence of Prov- 
idence, the freedom of industry, of commerce, of religion, 
and of government." ^ 

During these years the Puritans and the Pilgrims worked 
harmoniously together to build up a mighty common- 
wealth. Small beginnings could not but lead to potent 
results. Said the General Court, in 1646, " Plantations 
are above the rank of an ordinary corporation; they have 
been esteemed other than towns, yea, than many cities. 
Colonies are the foundations of great commonw^lths. It 
is the fruit of pride and folly to despise the day of small 
things." On the other hand, relations with neighboring 
colonies were not altogether pleasant. In 1653, there was 
a rumor current that the Dutch governor at Manhattan 
was seeking to incite the Indians against the English; 
and when the rumor seemed to be confirmed, the people 
of Connecticut clamored loudly for war. The General 
Court of Massachusetts, having reviewed the evidence, 
declared that " no determination of the commissioners, 
though they should all agree, should bind them to join in 
an offensive war which should appear to be unjust." This 
refusal to coincide with the views of the Connecticut people 
came very near resulting in a dissolution of the confeder- 
acy. Before passion thus weakened discretion, the tidings 
arrived that Cromwell had ordered three ships to be sent 
over to assist in the reduction of the Dutch. 

In the month of June the court convened; and Major 
Robert Sedgewick and Captain John Leverett received 
permission to raise a force of five himdred volunteers. 
Just as the expedition was oh the point of starting for 
Manhattan, the news came that a peace had been con- 

* Bancroft, i. 446. 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES H. 81 

eluded between England and Holland. The plans of the 
colonists were, therefore, altered ; and the military force 
was despatched to dislodge the French from the Penob- 
scot and St. John's. This object was speedily accom- 
plished. On the 20th of September a thanksgiving was 
celebrated throughout the colony, in gratitude for the peace 
with the Dutch, and the " hopeful establishment of gov- 
ernment in England." In the following year an expedi- 
tion waS' sent to Niantick for the purpose of quieting a 
conspiracy, which had originated with the Narragansett 
tribe. But as nothing serious resulted from it, the war 
was discontinued. 

With regret we must now briefly allude to another 
display of the persecuting spirit which prevailed in Mas- 
sachusetts at this time. As we have already observed, a 
national uncompromising church had been founded in the 
colony. The union of church and state was fast corrupt- 
ing both. Base ambition was mingled with the former, 
while a false direction was given to the legislation of the 
latter. The Congregationalists of Massachusetts were led 
to the "indulgence of the passions which had disgraced 
their English persecutors, and Laud was justified by the 
men whom he had wronged." 

In the summer of 1656' the first Quakers arrived in 
Massachusetts. Inasmuch as their doctrines were deemed 
" another assault of Satan upon God's poor people here," 
and as opening anew that " Dead Sea of heterodoxy, that 
vast and horrid sink such as makes the land to stink in 
the nostrils both of God and man," the new comers were 
all imprisoned and treated with great indignity. In the 
autumn they were banished, and the court ordered that 
a penalty of one hundred pounds should be imposed upon 
11. 



82 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the master of any ship bringing Quakers within the juris- 
diction. If any Quakers should come hither, they were to 
be whipped, and then transported. Other Laws, equally 
severe, were passed, prohibiting the harboring of the sect. 
So intense was the bigotry of the age, that the fathers 
declared that " heretical doctrine is not only a sin, but 
profession of a doctrine which is both all sin and a way 
of sin." Plymouth and Connecticut shared the prevailing 
sentiments of Massachusetts, while Rhode Island alone, 
under the wise guidance of Roger Williams, looked with 
favor on the " pernicious sect." 

For a season persecution reigned unbridled. Large num- 
bers of the Quakers, men, women, and children, mothers 
with infants lying on their breasts, children too young 
and innocent to excite other than feelings of compassion, 
were scourged, fined, imprisoned, and banished. A ter- 
rible tragedy was being enacted. Scenes of blood were 
frequent. " I would carry fire in one hand," said Mr. 
Wilson, " and fagots in the other, to burn all the Quakers 
in the world." And again, " Hang them," he cried, " or 
else — " and with a significant gesture he passed his 
hand across his throat. There was no excuse for such 
proceedings as these. What if the conduct of the Quakers 
had been provoking — what if their manners were oddly 
affected, their sense of delicacy debased, and all their 
acts were seemingly devoid of reason? Neither then nor 
now could any apology be offered for the shameless sins 
of their persecutors. " When," says George Fox, " did 
ever the true apostles and teachers whip, hang, brand 
with an hot iron, banish upon pain of death, and spoil 
the goods?" 1 

' Fox, Answer to New Laws, 4. 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 83 

Four of the Quakers — William Robinson, Marmaduke 
Stevenson, Mary Dyer, and Wenlock Christisson — were 
early made victims of the scaffold. Let us not dwell upon 
the inhumanity that marked these frightful scenes. "We 
desired their lives absent rather than their death present," 
was the only excuse which the magistrates could offer. 
When Christisson was put on trial, he asked by what 
law the magistrates condemned him. " Our own," was 
the cool reply. " Who empowered you to make that 
law ? " was his next question ; and being told that they 
were authorized by the patent, he inquired, " Can you 
make laws against those of England ? " What else could 
they say, but "No"? "Then"," said he, fearlessly, "have 
you overstepped 3"0ur bounds, and your hearts are as rot- 
ten towards the king as towards God." When the sen- 
tence of death was pronounced, he exclaimed, " What do 
you gain by taking Quakers* lives ? For the last man 
you put to death here are five come in his room ; and 
if ye have power to take my life, God can raise up ten 
in my stead." ^ 

But at length the tidings of these fearful barbarities 
reached the shores of England. " There is a vein of blood 
opened in your dominions, which, if not stopped, will over- 
come all," said Edward Burroughs to Charles II., who now 
sat upon the throne of his father. " Ah, I will stop that 
vein," said the king, promptly. " Do it speedily," contin- 
ued the ally of Fox. " As speedily as ye will," was the 
response ; " call to the secretary, and I will do it presently." 

The secretary obeyed the summons ; a mandamus was 
granted ; and Samuel Shattuck, a worthy Quaker, was 
ordered to be the bearer of it to Massachusetts. In a 

* Bishop, N. E. Judged, 336-340. 



84 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

little while the news reached Boston that a ship-load of 
Quakers, " Shattuck, the devil, and all," were anchored 
in the harbor. On the following day, it being Monday, 
two personages, Shattuck, the king's deputy, and the cap- 
tain of the vessel, repaired to the residence of Governor 
Endicott. Upon being admitted, the former was ordered 
to remove his hat ; but " when the mandamus was placed 
in his hands, he took off his own hat and returned that 
of the messenger." A consultation was held, followed 
by this laconic reply : " We shall obey his majesty's com- 
mand." 

The persecution was now virtually ended. Terror had 
supplanted vengeance in the minds of the people, and 
the Quakers were allowed to proceed about their busi- 
ness. Fearing that some evil results might follow, Mr. 
Bradstreet and Mr. Norton were sent to England, as 
agents of the colony. The king received them favorably ; 
and an attempt on the part of the Quakers to bring 
them to an account for the murder of their friends was 
finally compromised. From this hour the rigor of the 
colonial laws abated, and the principles of toleration began 
to surmount the evils of bigotry. Says a writer, " Let 
us not censure too harshly the conduct of men to whom 
we are so largely indebted for the blessings we enjoy. 
Candid minds will not be indisposed to cast over their 
errors the mantle of charity. We have no disposition to 
conceal those errors ; neither would we magnify them to 
an undue extent. Future ages, perhaps, in considering 
the laws of the middle of the nineteenth century, will 
look back with wonder to our days, and may find it as 
difficult to conceive how we should have strayed so far 
from the spirit of the gospel as then understood, as we 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES II. 85 

find it difficult to conceive how our ancestors should have 
strayed so far from that spirit as we understand it. Let 
each age be judged by its own light, and let due credit 
be given for all that was good in the past." ^ 

In May, 1660, Charles II. mounted the throne of his 
ancestors. The hand of death had fallen upon the pro- 
tectorate, and Puritanism had declined in England, never 
to rise again. The new House of Commons had voted 
that " according to the ancient and fundamental laws of 
this kingdom, the government is, and ought to be, by 
King, Lords, and Commons," and accordingly restored 
the old constitution. When Charles, a few days later, 
landed at Dover, and made his triumphal entry into 
Whitehall, he laughed with characteristic irony, and said, 
" It is my own fault that I had not come back sooner ; 
for I find nobody who does not tell me he has always 
longed for my return." The king was a brute incarnate ; 
and as a key to the moral character of his reign, it need 
only be said that, the first night of his return to London 
was signalized by the seduction of a beautiful woman 
of nineteen, the wife of one of his subjects. 

In December of this year, intelligence of the accession 
of a new king had reached Massachusetts ; the General 
Court convened and prepared addresses to his majesty. 
In these addresses his favor towards the colonies was so- 
licited, and their own allegiance to his sovereignty was 
declared. Instructions were forwarded to Mr. Leverett, 
their agent, to direct the proper transmission of the peti- 
tions. " If the king or Parliament," said they, " should 
demand what these privileges are which we desire the 
continuance of, your answer may be. All those which are 

> Barry, i. 372. 



86 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

granted us by patent, and that we have hitherto enjoyed 
in church and commonwealth, without any other power 
imposed over us, or any other infringement of them 
which would be destructive to the ends of our coming 
hither. As also that no appeal may be permitted from 
hence in any case, civil or criminal, which would be such 
an intolerable and insupportable burden as this poor 
place, at this distance, is not able to undergo, but would 
render authority and government vain and ineffectual, 
and bring us into contempt with all sorts of people. 
And if you find the king and Parliament propitious 
to us, to use your utmost endeavors for the renewing 
that ordinance that freed us from customs, 10th March, 
1642." 1 

In the following May a reply, signed by Mr. Secretary 
Morrice, together with a mandate for the arrest of Goffe 
and Whalley, the regicides who had escaped to Massa- 
chusetts, was received in Boston. The king's response 
contained a general expression of good will, which, how- 
ever, did not quiet the apprehensions of the colonists. 
The air was filled with rumors, and something seemed to 
forebode an early collision with the crown. At a special 
session of the court held in June, " a declaration of natu- 
ral and chartered rights" was approved and published. 
In this document the people affirmed their right " to 
choose their own governor, deputy governor, and repre- 
sentatives ; to admit freemen on terms to be prescribed 
at their own pleasure ; to set up all sorts of officers, 
superior and inferior, and point out their power and 
places ; to exercise, by their annually elected magistrates 
and deputies, all power and authority, legislative, execu- 

* Hutchinson, Coll., 330. 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 87 

tive, and judicial ; to defend tliemselves by force of arms 
against every aggression; and to reject as an infringe- 
ment of their rights, any parliamentary or royal imposi- 
tion, prejudicial to the country, and contrary to any just 
act of colonial legislation." ^ 

More than a year elapsed from the restoration of Charles 
II. to his public recognition at Boston. While in Old 
England the people welcomed his return with riotous 
festivity, — 

"The rich, the poor, the old, the young, agree 
To celebrate a joyful jubilee ; 
And to the utmost all themselves employ 
To make free demonstrations of their joy. 
Some quaff full goblets of the richest wine, ' 

And others make the blazing bonfires shine; 
Whilst the devout their prayers to Heaven sent, 
For blessings on the king and government," * — 

in New England even the drinking of his health was 
forbidden, and the event was celebrated only amid the 
coldest formalities. 

Meanwhile the colonists not only declared, but openly 
assumed, their rights ; and in consequence complaints were 
almost daily instituted by those who were hostile to the 
government. Political opinion was diversified ; and while 
" a majority were for sustaining, with the charter, an inde- 
pendent government in undiminished force, a minority 
were willing to make some concessions." In the midst of 
the discussions, John Norton, " a friend to moderate coun- 
sels," and Simon Bradstreet were induced to go to Eng- 
land as agents of the colony. Having been instructed to 
convince the king of the loyalty of the people of Mas- 
sachusetts, and to " engage to nothing prejudicial to their 

» Hutchinson, Hist., i. 196, seq. " Wolcott, in 1 M. H. Coll., iv. 262. 



88 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

present standing according to their patent, and to endeavor 
the establishment of the rights and privileges then en- 
joyed," the commissioners sailed from Boston on the 10th 
of February, 1662. 

In England they were courteously received by King 
Charles, and from him obtained, in a letter dated June 
28, a confirmation of their charter, and an amnesty for 
all past offences. At the same time the king rebuked 
them for the irregularities which had been complained of 
in the government ; directed " a repeal of all laws derog- 
atory to his authority ; the taking of the oath of alle- 
giance ; the administration of justice in his name ; a con- 
cession of the elective franchise to all freeholders of 
competent estate ; and as ' the principle of the charter 
was the freedom of the liberty of conscience,' the allow- 
ance of that freedom to those who desired to use ' the 
booke of common prayer, and perform their devotion in 
the manner established in England.' " ^ 

These requisitions of the king proved anything but 
acceptable to the jjeople of Massachusetts. With them 
the question of obedience became a question of freedom, 
and gave rise to the parties which continued to divide 
the colony until the establishment of actual independence. 
It was not thought best to comply immediately with his 
majesty's demands ; on the other hand, no refusal to do 
so was promulgated. Always observant of the signs of 
the times, the government ceased not to strengthen itself 
for a continuance of their religious institutions and their 
democratic self-reliance. 

Before long tidings reached England — they were false, 
of course — that the regicides Goffe *and Whalley were 

' Bancroft, ii. 75. 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 89 

at the head of an army, and that the colonies were 
plotting for union and independence from the crown. Even 
the most influential friends of America, including Lord 
Say and Seal, failed to disperse these rumors. "New- 
England men are of altogether another principle," said 
Lord Say and Seal. But the words proved ineffective. 
The intercessions of Sir Thomas Temple, who had resided 
several years in New England, and of John Winthrop, 
the governor of Connecticut, drew from Lord Clarendon, 
the king's minister, a significant reply. " I assure you " 
— such is Clarendon's message to Massachusetts — " of 
my true love and friendship to your country ; neither 
in your privileges, charter, government, nor church dis- 
cipline, shall you receive any prejudice." Scarcely had 
these words reached America when the rumor followed 
that royal commissioners were to be appointed to regu- 
late the affairs of New England. ^ 

Precautionary measures were "now taken. The patent 
and a duplicate of the same were delivered to a com- 
mittee of four, with instructions to hold them in safe keep- 
ing. • Captain Davenport, at Castle Fort, was ordered to 
give early announcement of the arrival of his majesty's 
ships. Officers and soldiers were forbidden to land from 
ships, except in smaU parties. Strict obedience to the 
laws was enjoined upon all the people ; and finally, a day 
of fasting and prayer was appointed " to implore the 
mercy of God upon them under their many distractions 
and troubles." 

On the 23d of July, 1664, " about five or six of the 
clock at night," the " Guinea," followed by three other 
ships of the line, arrived in Boston harbor. They were well 

» 4 M. H. Coll., ii. 284. 

12 



90 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

manned and equipped for the reduction of the Dutch 
settlements on the Hudson, and brought commissioners hos- 
tile to colonial freedom, and who were charged by the king 
to determine " all complaints and appeals in all causes 
and matters, as well military as criminal and civil," and 
to " proceed in all things for the providing for and set- 
tling the peace and security of the country, according to 
their good and sound discretions." Colonel Richard Nich- 
ols, and Colonel George Cartwright were the chief mem- 
bers of the commission. At the earliest possible moment 
they produced their legal warrant, the king's letter of 
April 23, and requested the assistance of the colonies in 
the reduction of the Dutch. Shortly afterwards the fleet 
set out for New Netherlands. 

On the 3d of August the General Court convened, 
and the state of affairs was discussed. It was resolved 
" to bear faith and true allegiance to his majesty, and 
adhere to their patent, so dearly obtained, and so long 
enjo^^ed by undoubted right in the sight of God and men." 
It was also agreed to raise a force of two hundred men, 
at colonial expense, to serve against the Dutch ; and mes- 
sengers were sent to inform the commissioners of these 
proceedings. In consequence of the capitulation of the 
Dutch, the troops were not mustered into active service. 
On the same day the king's letter of June 28 was 
debated upon.^ Although its demands were thought to be 
unreasonable, it was agreed " to modify the old law, by 
providing that all English subjects, being freeholders, and 
of a competent estate, and certified by the ministers of 
the place to be orthodox in faith, and not vicious in their 
lives, should be made freemen, although not members of 

* See page 88. 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES IT. 91 

the church." ^ Before the session closed, Massachusetts 
published an order forbidding the making of complaints 
to the commissioners, and prepared the following eloquent 
address to the king : — 

" Dread Soveeeign : The first undertakers of this 
plantation did obtain a patent, wherein is granted full and 
absolute power of governing all the people of this place, 
by men chosen from among themselves, and according to 
such laws as they should see meet to establish. A royal 
donation under the great seal is the greatest security 
that may be had in human affairs. Under the encourage- 
ment and security of the royal charter, this people did, 
at their own charges, transport themselves, their wives 
and families, over the ocean, purchase the land of the 
natives, and plant this colony, with great labor, hazards, 
cost, and difficulties ; for a long time wrestling with the 
wants of a wilderness and the burdens of a new plan- 
tation ; having also, now above thirty years, enjoyed the 
privilege of Government within themselves, as their 
undoubted right in the sight of God and man. To be 
governed by rulers of our own choosing, and lawes of our 
own, is the fundamental privilege of our patent. 

" A commission under the great seal, wherein four per- 
sons (one of them our professed enemy) are empowered 
to receive and determine all complaints and appeals ac- 
cording to their discretion, subjects us to the arbitrary 
power of strangers, and will end in the subversion of 
our all. If these things go on, your subjects here will 
either be forced to seeke new dwellings, or sink under 
intolerable burdens. The vigor of all new endeavors will 

' Barry, i. 392. Hutchinson, i. 212. 



92 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

be enfeebled ; the king himself will be a loser of the 
wonted benefit by customs, exported and imported from 
hence into England, and this hopeful plantation will in 
the issue be ruined. 

" If the aime should be to gratify some particular gen- 
tlemen by livings and revenues here, that will also fail, 
for the poverty of the people. If all the charges of the 
whole government by the year were put together, and 
then doubled or trebled, it would not be counted for one 
of those gentlemen a considerable accommodation. To a 
coalition in this course the people will never come ; and 
it will be hard to find another people that will stand 
under any considerable burden in this country, seeing it 
is not a country where men can subsist without hard 
labor and great frugality. 

" God knows our greatest ambition is to live a quiet 
life, in a corner of the world. We came not into this 
wildernesse to seek great things to ourselves ; and if any 
come after us to seeke them heere, they will be dis- 
appointed. We keep ourselves within our line, a just 
dependence upon, and subjection to, your majestic, accord- 
ing to our charter, it is far from our hearts to disac- 
knowledge. We would gladly do anything within our 
power to purchase the continuance of your favorable as- 
pect. But it is a great unhappiness to have no testi- 
mony of our loyalty offered but this, to yield up our 
liberties, which are far . dearer to us than our lives, and 
which we have willingly ventured our lives, and passed 
through many deaths to obtain. 

" It was Job's excellency, when he sat as king among 
his people, that he was a father to the poor. A poor 
people, destitute of outward favor, wealth, and power, 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES 11. 93 

now cry unto their lord the king. May your majestie 
regard their cause, and maintain their right ; it will stand 
among the marks of lasting honor to after generations." 

Such was the substance of an address full worthy of 
its origin. The spirit of the people corresponded with it ; 
and if any dared to pay court to the commissioners, they 
became objects of derision. In February, 1665, three of 
the commissioners returned to Boston. Their reception 
was far from being cordial, and they were not slow to 
detect that their presence in the colony had stirred up 
against themselves the hatred of the multitude. At Plym- 
outh, whither they soon went, they found little to 
tempt their cupidity ; in Rhode Island and Connecticut 
they met with better success. Having in April returned 
to Massachusetts, they delivered five propositions to the 
deputy governor, — Mr. Endicott, the governor, having 
recently deceased. On the next day was held the annual 
election. It proceeded quietly, and Mr. Bellingham was 
chosen to succeed Mr. Endicott, and Mr. Willoughby was 
appointed deputy governor. On the days immediately fol- 
lowing, the commissioners communicated all his majesty's 
instructions, and the propositions before mentioned were 
laid before the court. The discussion waxed with heated 
animation ; and the commissioners, finding themselves out- 
matched by the politicians of Massachusetts, asked, "Do 
you acknowledge his majesty's commission to be of full 
force to all the intents and purposes therein contained ? " 
They received no definite answer from the court.^ 

The commissioners now resolved to take more decided 
ground, and on the 23d of May they ordered Joshua 

* Hutchinson, i. 217, seq. 



94 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Scottow, a Boston merchant, to present himself at the 
house of Captain Breeden, to answer to the charges of 
Thomas Deane and others. When the trial opened, a 
herald from the governor appeared, sounded his trumpet, 
and, in the name of the king, formally forbade any abet- 
ting the commissioners. The latter were astonished ; the 
magistrates were inexorable. "Since you will misconstrue 
our endeavors," exclaimed the commissioners in tones of 
rage, " we shall not lose more of our labor upon you." 
So saying, they departed to the north. 

When King Charles heard of these proceedings, he 
changed the scene of negotiations from Massachusetts to 
England ; and Bellingham and Hathorne were ordered, 
under penalty, not to fail in their appearance. On the 
11th of September, the court convened for the purpose 
of considering the king's letter of April 10. The most 
eminent clergymen of the colony were present. " Let 
some regular way be propounded for the debate," said 
Bellingham. " The king's prerogative gives him power 
to command our appearance," said Bradstreet ; "before 
God and men we are to obey." — " You may have a trial 
at law ; when you come to England, you may insist upon 
it and claim it," interposed a royalist. " We must as 
well consider God's displeasure, as the king's," remarked 
Willoughby, " the interest of ourselves and of God's 
things, as his majesty's prerogative." — "Prerogative is as 
necessary as law," replied the artful royalist. — "Prerog- 
ative is not above law," retorted Plathorne. " We have 
already furnished our views in writing, so that the ablest 
persons among us could not declare our case more fully," 
concluded the court.^ 

» Bancroft, ii. 88. 



MASSACHUSETTS AND CHARLES //. 95 

The defiance of Massachusetts was followed by no im- 
mediate danger. For a season the contest with the 
crown ceased. The king himself was too much engaged 
with his women to bestow his attention upon, matters 
of state ; and thus, while England was lamenting the 
want of a good government, the colonies, true to them- 
selves, their country, and their God, flourished in purity 
and peace 



96 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 



CHAPTER V. 

KING PHILIP'S WAR. 

Peioe to the year 1675, four powerful tribes of Indians 
held territory in New England. Of all the tribes, not 
one was more dreaded by the English than the Narra- 
gansetts, who peopled almost the entire region which 
forms the present state of Rhode Island, extending west 
to the Thames River in Connecticut, and northward to 
the territory of the Nipmucks. The land of the Nip- 
mucks lay principally in Massachusetts, about half way 
between Boston and the Connecticut. Wachusett Moun- 
tain was the favorite seat of the sachems of this tribe. 
The Mohegans, who had separated from the Pequots be- 
fore the destruction of the latter, occupied the territory 
lying between the Connecticut and the Thames. The 
Wampanoags appear to have exercised sway over the 
petty tribes of the interior as far west as the Nipmucks, 
while their own territory extended from Massachusetts 
Bay and Cape Cod through the disputed tracts north of 
the Narragansett country to the bay bearing the same 
name. Their influence was courted or dreaded by all the 
, surrounding tribes ; and had they been hostile to the Pil- 
grims, instead of friendly, there would have been small need, 
probably, to write the history of the latter. Besides these 
ruling tribes, there were many smaller ones, who were 
neither numerous nor powerful. These, for the most part. 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 97 

led a desiTltory life, being in some cases dependent for their 
very existence upon the generosity of their neighbors. 

It will be remembered that one avowed purpose of the 
Massachusetts colonists in forsaking their native land was 
" the propagating and advancing of the gospel of the king- 
dom of Chiist in these remote parts of the world." To 
unlock the mysteries of savage life, and to attempt the 
conversion of the ignorant inhabitants of New England, 
became one of the earliest duties of the settlers. The 
Pilgrims had labored in this direction ; and later, Roger 
Williams had likewise assumed the task. " Many solemn 
discourses," says he, " I have had with all sorts, from 
one end of the country to another. I know there is no 
small preparation in the hearts of multitudes of them. I 
know their many solemn confessions to myself, and one 
to another, of their lost, wandering condition. I know 
strong convictions upon the consciences of many of them, 
and their desires uttered that way. I know not with 
how little knowledge and grace of Christ the Lord may 
save, and therefore neither will despair nor report much." ^ 
In 1644 an order was passed in Massachusetts that the 
county courts should " take care that the Indians resid- 
ing in the several shires should be civilized and instructed 
in the knowledge and worship of God." 

The true Apostle to the Indians, however, was John 
Eliot, of Roxbury, w^ho is usually called " the morning 
star of missionary enterprise," in America. In point of 
time, indeed, Mayhew, of Nantucket, preceded him in the 
field, and produced the first fruits of benevolent effort 
for the conversion of the wild tribes. Although the 
labors of the latter did not spread over a very wide 

' 1 M, H. Coll., iii. 206. 

13 



98 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

region, they are none the less entitled to the commen- 
dation of the philanthropist. John Eliot was a man 
"justly famous in the church of God, not only as an 
eminent Christian "and an excellent minister among the 
English, but also as a memorable evangelist among the 
Indians of New England;" and "All who contemplate," 
says one of his biographers, " his active services, his be- 
nevolent zeal, his prudence, his upright conduct, and his 
charity, are ready to declare his memory precious." 

In October, 1646, on the elevated grounds east of New- 
ton Corner, Mr. Eliot preached his first sermon. The 
spot was afterwards called " Nonantum," or " the place of 
rejoicing." Once begun, the good work was continued ; 
and meetings were likewise held at Concord, Neponset, 
and at other towns in the colony. One of the first con- 
yictions of the evangelist was, that the civilization of the 
Indians was a prerequisite to their Christianization, and 
his earlier efforts ,were accordingly directed to this end, 
with no small success. In his intercourse with the tribes, 
he found them possessed of a vast amount of natural 
vigor, shrewdness, and deep penetration. Oftentimes his 
auditors would propound questions which it was not so 
easy to answer. Said one, " If a man should be en- 
closed in iron a foot thick, and then be cast into the 
fire, what would become of his soul? Could it escape, 
or not ? " Another inquired, " Which was made first, the 
devil or man?" And still others, "Why did not God 
give all men good hearts, that they might be good ? " — 
" Why did not God kill the devil, that made all men 
so bad, he having all power ? " The after-life of the 
young was incomprehensible, and they asked, " Where do 
children go when they die, seeing they have not sinned ? " 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 99 

Finally, " Why does God punish in hell forever ? Man 
doth not so, but after a time lets them out of prison 
again. And if they repent in hell, why will not God let 
them out again? " — " Seeing the body sinneth, why should 
the soul be punished? " And, " If all the world be burned 
up, where shall hell be ? " 

Through the exertions of Mr. Winslow, who was at this 
time in England as the agent of the colony, a Society for 
Propagating the Gospel in New England was formed in 1649. 
English clergymen " stirred up their congregations to con- 
tribute liberally to its funds ; a correspondence was held 
with the commissioners of the United Colonies, who were 
employed as the agents of the company ; and in a short time 
a sum yielding six hundred pounds per annum was raised, 
and the proceeds of the same were regularly forwarded for 
the purchase of clothing, the education of children, the 
publication of books, the maintenance of teachers, and such 
other expenses as were incident to the mission ; and these 
funds were faithfully husbanded,, and sacredly disbursed 
for the purposes intended." ^ 

Mr. Eliot continued unremitting in his labors. At his 
request the people of Dedham granted to the Indians a town- 
ship of about six thousand acres, where the Praying In- 
dians, so called, of the vicinity were gathered. This set- 
tlement afterwards received the name of Natick, or " the 
place of hills." In this town, founded in 1650, schools and 
churches were established, a form of government Vv^as adopt- 
ed, and education and religion were zealously fostered. The 
Indians, who had settled here, devoted themselves largely to 
agricultural pursuits, and the women freely shared the labors 
of the men. "In the winter," says a writer, "they dis- 

' Barry, i. 355. Hutcliinson, i. 153-156. 



100 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

posed of brooms, staves, baskets, and turkeys ; in the spring, 
cranberries, strawberries, and fish ; in the summer, whortle- 
berries, grapes, and fish ; and several of them worked with 
the English in hay time and harvest." ^ 

While thus engaged, Mr. Eliot undertook the task of 
translating the Bible into the dialect of the Indians. He 
also prepared a Grammar, Catechisms, a Primer, and other 
works of a religious character, all of which were printed by 
the Society for Propagating the Gospel. In 1661 was erect- 
ed the " Indian College," at Cambridge, which was furnished 
with accommodations for twenty scholars. Three years later, 
two Indian churches were gathered in the colony, and four- 
teen Praying towns were settled. And thus the good work 
went on, until it met with a serious interruption in the war 
with Philip. Alread}'- many had begun " to doubt the suc- 
cess of the enterprise, and some openly contemned it." 
" If the value of an enterprise," says Barry, " is to be meas- 
ured by its success, the conversion of the Indians must be 
regarded as a failure. The race itself has dwindled away, 
leaving behind few tokens of its presence in the country ; 
and nearly all that remains to remind us of the genius and 
exertions of Eliot are the few scattered books which have 
descended to us from the past, as unintelligible as the in- 
scriptions upon the obelisk of Luxor ; yet, like that, they are 
memorials of the labors of man, and impressive and instruc- 
tive are the lessons they teach." ^ From this pleasing pic- 
ture of the honest efforts of our fathers, we must now turn 
to one of the saddest episodes in the history of New Eng- 
land. There is but small need of repeating the assertion, 
for the annals of this country have already proven its truth, 
that two peoples, essentially unlike, cannot long coexist 

» Homer, in 1 M. H. Coll., v. 2G0. '■' Hist., i. 3(J0 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 101 

without frequent collisions. In this light it may almost be 
said that at the very moment when the Enghsh gained a 
footing- in America, the doom of the red race was sealed. 

Philip of Mount Hope is one of the few Indian chiefs 
who are acknowledged by the white man to have been 
truly great. As the years lengthen out their span, so does 
his fame increase. A centiuy and a half ago he was stig- 
matized by the historian and divine as a rebel, a murderer, 
a monster accursed of God and man. Fifty years later, the 
descendants of those who had quartered his lifeless remains, 
and sold his child into the burning slavery of the tropics, read 
the story of his misfortunes with sorrow, and found in it ex- 
cuse for the evils he inflicted upon their fathers. Now, 
Philip is regarded as a hero and a patriot, to whom all our 
sympathies would be given, were it not that he waged war 
against our own ancestors. 

After the death of Alexander, the son and the successor 
of Massasoit, Philip, his brother, became sachem of the AVam- 
panoags. Like his predecessors, he established his residence 
at Mount Hope, where he conducted all his affairs, and made 
treaties with adjoining tribes in favor of the colonists. It 
is unnecessary to conceal the fact that, in his deahngs with 
the English, justice was not always extended towards the 
aged chief. Whosoever possesses a human soul is not slow 
to awaken to a sense of danger. Philip and his warriors 
read their doom in the faces of the white men ; and they 
were wise enough to endeavor to intercept it. 

It was in 1670, or thereabouts, that the people of Mas- 
sachusetts began to suspect that Philip of Mount Hope was 
preparing to break that friendship which, eight years before, 
he had pledged with the colonists at Plymouth. It was even 
rumored that he was about to begin hostilities, that meet- 



102 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

iugs of his tribe were being frequently held, and that all 
of his warriors were grinding their hatchets for ^ general 
conflict. Several wanton murders, which were committed 
about this time, seemed to confirm these rumors, and roused 
the English to speedy action. At an interview which took 
place shortly afterwards, for the adjustment of grievances, 
Philip scoffed the notion of war, and, as pledges of his 
fidelity, proffered the surrender of all his English arms to 
the government at Plymouth. A three years' peace followed 
this event ; but it was only the transient calm which pre- 
cedes the outbreak of a tempest. 

In these years of quiet Philip matured all his plans ; and 
in 1675 the war began, directly caused, it is said, by the 
murder of one Sassamon, of the Massachusetts tribe. It 
was Sassamon who first communicated Philip's hostile in- 
tentions to the governor of Plymouth, and thus, it is sup- 
posed, incurred the vengeance of the chief. In the spring 
of 1675 Sassamon suddenly disappeared, and a few days 
later his body was found under the ice in Assawomset 
Pond, near Middleborough. An Indian, friendly to the Eng- 
lish, represented that he had himself beheld one of Philip's 
men commit the deed. At a meeting of the court in June, 
three Indians, instead of one, were arraigned for the mur- 
der ; and being adjudged guilty, they were put to death. 
This affair was the signal for war, at the prospect of which 
the Plymouth people rejoiced, imagining that there would 
be little difficulty in driving the " Canaanites " from the 
land. It was not till Philip had convinced them that he 
was not the weak savage they supposed him to be, that they 
began to perceive how serious was the contest. 

Hostilities commenced at once. On the 20th of June, 
1675, a band of Indians fell upon the town of Swanzey, 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 103 

fived several houses, but shed no blood. Like wildfire the 
tidings of the attack spread through the colony. The roads 
were crowded with fugitives " wringing their hands and be- 
wailing their losses." On the 24th, while the congregation 
were returning home from church, tl>e Indians again sur- 
rounded the town. Whilst the flames rolled onward from 
house to house, nine of the inhabitants fell victims to the 
savages. Upon the bodies of six the Indians " exercised 
more than brutish barbarities, beheading, dismembering, and 
mangling them, and exposing them in the most inhuman 
manner." Four days later a Plymouth force under the 
command of Major James Cudworth arrived at Swanzey, 
where they were joined by companies from Massachusetts 
under the commands of Captain Henchman and Captain 
Prentice. The house of Mr. Miles was chosen as the head- 
quarters. It was situated near a bridge thrown across the 
inlet on which the town is built, and which affords an easy 
access from the Plymouth colony to Mount Hope. 

On the 30th the whole army marched direct to Mount 
Hope for the purpose of dislodging Philip from his position. 
Great was their astonishment upon finding that the wig- 
wams had all been deserted, and that the chief, with his 
canoes, arms, and provisions, had made good his escape. 
Many of the English now entertained the hope that the war 
was ended, while others indulged grateful reflections on the 
prowess which had so speedily delivered the country of its 
most formidable enemy. It was the opinion of Captain 
Benjamin Church that the war was not yet over. 

Having returned from Mount Hope, the army paused 
a while in the swamp of Pocasset, and there divided, — the 
Plymouth forces crossing over into Rhode Island, and the 
Massachusetts troops returning to Swanzey. In July a 



104 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

treaty was concluded with tlie Narragansetts, who delivered 
hostages as a pledge of their fidelity. Then followed the 
intelligence that the whereabouts of Philip had been dis- 
covered, and that a detachment of Plymouth troops, under 
the command of Church, had set out in pursuit. The whole 
army advanced to his assistance, and on the 19th an attack 
was opened in the swamp at Pocasset. This swamp was 
seven miles long, and so dense as to be almost impenetra- 
ble. Skirting it were one hundred wigwams, which had just 
been abandoned. As the soldiers entered, they were greeted 
by a heavy fire. Trees were mistaken for Indians, and or- 
ders were neglected or misunderstood. Until sunset the 
conflict endured, when Cudworth, deeming it useless to fight 
longer, ordered a retreat. If the army had pushed on- 
ward at least an hour longer, Philip " would have been 
compelled to surrender, and the war would have ended." 
As it was, Philip escaped safely from Pocasset, and an- 
nounced his good fortune in an attack on Taunton. 

On the 1st of August the contending parties met once 
more on Seekonk Plain. In an engagement which took 
place, the people of Rehoboth, headed by their pastor, fought 
nobly. Notwithstanding that the strength of the English 
was increased by the arrival of a party of Mohegans under 
Uncas, the main body of Philip's men eluded pursuit, and 
fled into the country of the Nipmucks. In the preceding 
month Captain Hutchinson had been despatched, by the 
authorities at Boston, for the purpose of treating with this 
tribe. On Sunday, the 1st of August, accompanied by Cap- 
tain Wheeler, of Concord, and others, he arrived before 
Quaboag, now Brookfield. Finding no Indians, he marched 
on to Momimimissit, five miles beyond, where the war- 
whoop gave him his first intimation of danger. Two hun- 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 105 

dred Indians fired upon his troops from all directions. The 
swamp seemed on fire with the continuous discharges ; the 
rocks echoed back the reports of musketry and the yells of 
the savages, while around the bewildered colonists balls 
ploughed up the ground and whistled like hail. Eight men 
fell dead at the first fire, and others, including Hutchinson, 
were mortally wounded. With the enemy swarming in the 
thicket, the English hurried towards Brookfield, and sought 
shelter in a large house situated upon a hill. For two days 
this building was besieged. Filling a cart with hemp, the 
Indians set the whole on fire, and pushed it towards the 
garrison ; but the flames were extinguished by a shower of 
rain. Still sure of their prey, the savages taunted their pris- 
oners, sung the death-song, and danced the scalp-dance. On 
the evening of the 4th, forty-one men, commanded by Major 
Willard, arrived at the scene. Without loss of time the bat- 
tle was renewed ; the savages retired with sudden yells of 
rage and mortification, and after completing the desolation 
of the town, they secreted themselves in the woods. 

Meanwhile the Indians in the forests bordering upon the 
Connecticut River, whither Philip himself had been driven, 
were scanning with evil eyes the weak and scattered settle- 
ments in that region. On the 1st of September, Hadley was 
surprised whilst all the people were at church, and fired in 
several places. At a critical moment, a man, whom nobody 
had noticed before, venerable in his aspect, calm in his de- 
meanor, and of noble daring, hurried to the front, and called 
upon the villagers to follow him. Roused from their wonder 
at his first appearance, the men renewed the fight, and 
pressed forward to charge the enemy. The Indians broke 
and fled ; and in the hurry of pursuit the benefactor of 
Hadley departed, no one knew whither. Not until many 
14 



106 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

years had elapsed was it known that this brave commander 
was Colonel Goffe, the regicide. On the same day the In- 
dians attacked Deerfield, and nearly destroyed the town ; 
and three days later, Northfield experienced the same fate. 
In an engagement which took place at Deerfield on the 
18th, the victory was with the far more numerous savages. 
There was scarcely a family in Essex which did not lose a 
member, and that member its pride and hope. Hardly a 
white man escaped. The murmuring brook which wdnds 
through the tranquil scene bears to this day a name which 
commemorates the most terrible disaster which New England 
had yet seen. 

In proportion as the colonists were depressed, the Indians 
were encouraged. The Springfield Indians, who had hitherto 
remained faithful, now joined Philip, admitted three hundred 
of his warriors into their fort, and plotted the destruction of 
the town. On the 4th of October, the savages, having fallen 
upon the place, succeeded in burning upwards of sixty houses. 
By the arrival of Major Treat and others, they were repulsed 
and forced to seek shelter in the woods. Two weeks later 
the Indians suffered another defeat at Hatfield. Exasperated 
"with rage, they exposed themselves with their customary im- 
prudence, and their loss was heavy. This affair was of im- 
mense importance to the colonists. It encouraged them to 
face the foe boldly, and inspired confidence in their leaders. 
The Indians attempted no enterprise of importance through- 
out the remainder of the season ; but deeming discretion 
their better part, they withdrew for the winter into the 
swamps. 

Although the war had already been carried on through four 
months, there had not as yet been taken any measures for 
concerted action. Hitherto the English had proceeded main- 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 107 

ly on tlie defensive. On the 9tli of September, commission- 
ers from the three principal colonies assembled at Boston, and 
" fully concurred in the righteousness of the present war with 
the barbarous natives," and ordered one thousand troops to 
be raised without delay. Of these troops Massachusetts fur- 
nished more than half. A commander-in-chief was appointed 
for each colony, and he was entitled to the supreme com- 
mand over the united forces, whenever their field of opera- 
tions lay within the colony by which he had been chosen. 
On the 2d of November, the commissioners reassembled. In 
the belief that the Narragansetts would join Philip in the 
spring, a winter campaign was proposed. A declaration of 
war was made, in which the Narragansetts were accused of 
being " deeply accessory in the present bloody outrages of 
the bloody natives." To this charge were added others — 
that they had killed the cattle of the colonists, and had, when 
news of the disaster at Hadley arrived, " in a very reproach- 
ful and blasphemous manner rejoiced thereat." 

Early in December the Massachusetts troops under Major 
Appleton set out for the country of the Narragansetts. On 
the 12th they were joined by the Plymouth forces under 
Major Bradford ; and crossing the Patuxet and marching 
onward, they rendezvoused at Mr. Smith's, in "Warwick. A 
series of skirmishes was a prelude to the general attack. On 
the 18th, the Connecticut troops under Major Treat arrived 
and united with those of Massachusetts and Plymouth. The 
whole army was now together, and numbered nearly one 
thousand English and one hundred and fifty Mohegans. All 
night long the men remained in the open air, encouraged by 
the prospect of final success. 

At daybreak the troops marched through the trackless 
snow for the Narragansett fort, and soon came " upon the 



108 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

edge of the swamp, where their guide assured them they 
should find Indians enough before night." Scarcely had they 
arrived within range of the fort, when a terrible volley of 
musketry was fired upon them. A desperate struggle ensued. 
The soldiers, maddened at the sight of their dead and dying 
companions, breasted the bristling rows of muskets, and 
pushed each other up the enclosure, w^hile the Indians 
poured from the house, the hedge, the palisade, an uninter- 
rupted stream of death. Discipline prevailed ; the savages 
were driven from their flank position, and the colonists at 
length secured to themselves a place of shelter in the lower 
part of the enclosure. On a sudden the wigwams were all 
ablaze, and the flames soon enveloped the wide space in a 
sea of fire. Abandoning all hope, terrified by the whistling 
of shot and the shouts of command, the warriors shrunk 
closer towards each other, and springing upon the enemy's 
pieces like wild beasts, fought hand to hand in the madness 
of revenge. The din of battle was mingled with the screams 
of women and children roasting in the flames. Some flung 
their arms to heaven and cried for mercy ; but their prayers 
were unanswered. Where the conflict raged, quarter was 
neither asked nor given. When night at length put an end 
to the slaughter, the shattered remnant of the Narragansett 
warriors retired into a neighboring swamp, and the troops 
returned to headquarters. In this encounter three hundred 
Indian warriors were killed, and seven hundred were wound- 
ed. The loss of the English was eighty killed, including some 
of their ablest officers, and one hundred and fifty wounded. 

The power of the tribe was broken ; but Canonchet, theit 
sachem, did not droop under the disaster. " We will fight 
to the last man," said he, " rather than become servants to 
the English ; " and he remained true to his word. From 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 109 

this time onATard the war was characterized by the most 
frightful barbarities, and the weapons of cruelty were sel- 
dom at rest. 

The English retreated from the Narragansett country, and 
reached their camp unmolested by the enemy. Numbers 
perished by the way ; those of the wounded who survived 
were frozen stiff as the dead. On examination, four hundred 
were found to be unfit for duty. In this condition, and des- 
titute of provisions, they awaited with gloomy forebodings 
the arrival of the supplies which had been forwarded. Star- 
vation stared them in the face. Although exhausted by the 
campaign, the troops were neither disheartened nor disposed 
to remain idle. At the beginning of the new year, Philip and 
his Indians withdrew into the country of the Nipmucks. 
His route was marked by devastation and cruelty. The 
army, re-enforced by three hundred fresh troops, pursued 
them as far as Marlborough, whence, being in want of provis- 
ions, they returned to Boston. Taking advantage of their 
departure, the Narragansetts, the Nipmucks, the Quaboag 
and River Indians, and the remnant of Philip's tribe, effected 
a juncture. Thus combined, they fell, on the 10th of Febru- 
ary, 1676, upon the town of Lancaster. Houses were fired 
in every locality, and the Indians captured or killed all 
who attempted to escape. Forty-two of the inhabitants, of 
every age and both sexes, sought refuge in the house of Mr. 
Rowlandson, their pastor. This house stood upon the edge 
of the hill on which the greater part of the present town 
is built. From their secure position the savages poured a 
shower of musketry upon the house. Several of the men 
within had already been wounded, but those who still sur- 
vived fought on steadily for more than an hour. At length 
the building caught fire, and the flames were soon crackling 



110 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and tossing over the heads of the devoted garrison. Every 
avenue of escape was closed. No help appeared in any quar- 
ter ; and the alternative alone remained of dying in the blaze 
or of surrendering to a merciless foe. 

" Some in our house," says Mrs. Rowlandson, " were fight- 
ing for their lives, while others were wallowing in their blood, 
the house being on fire over our heads, and the bloody sav- 
ages were standing ready to bury the tomahawk in our heads 
if we stirred out. Now we could hear mothers and children 
crying out, ' Lord, what shall we do ? ' I took my children, 
and one of my sisters hers, to go out and leave the house ; 
but as soon as we made our appearance at the door, the In- 
dians fired so fast that the bullets rattled against the house as 
if one had taken a handful of stores and thrown them, so 
that we were forced to give back." The garrison now fled 
from the burning mass only to fall victims to a bloody thirst. 
Mrs. Rowlandson was shot in the side, and two of her chil- 
dren were put to death. " My eldest sister," she continues 
in her sad narrative, "being yet in the house, seeing Indians 
hauling mothers one way and children another, and some 
wallowing in their blood, and being told that her son William 
was dead, and that I was wounded, she exclaimed, ' Lord, 
let me die with them.' No sooner had she said this, than 
she was struck with a bullet, and fell down dead over the 
threshold. The Indians now laid hold on us, pulling me one 
way and the children another, saying, ' Come, go along with 
us.' I told them that they would kill me. They said that 
if I was willing to go along with them, they would not hurt 
me." For' the sake of truth it ought to be said that the In- 
dians treated their prisoners kindly. Among the latter was 
Mrs. Rowlandson, who was afterwards exchanged, and wrote 
an interesting account of her captivity. 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. \\\ 

On the 21st of February a party of Indians attacked the 
town of Medfield, destroyed nearly half of the houses, and 
murdered about twenty of the inhabitants. Weymouth like- 
wise suffered on the 24th ; and on March 2, Groton was 
almost wholly destroyed. The theatre of war was now trans- 
ferred to the western frontier, and at Northampton the In- 
dians suffered a signal defeat. Almost at the same time, 
depredations were renewed in the Plymouth colony, and a 
violent assault was made upon Plj^mouth itself. On the 26th 
of March, Captain Pierce, of Scituate, with a force of about 
seventy men, arrived at a crossing-place on the Pawtucket 
River, not far from the falls. Adjacent to this spot was a 
pass since known as Attleboro' Gore. Shortly " a small 
number of the enemy was seen, who in desperate subtlety 
ran away from them, and they went limping to make the 
English believe they were lame." ^ The stratagem succeed- 
ed. Pierce gave pursuit, and when too late saw that he had 
fallen into a fatal snare. Placed between two fires, the colo- 
nists were mowed down with fearful rapidity. Hope was 
succeeded b}^ disappointment, and then by despair ; for it 
soon appeared that the heroic defence of Pierce and his men 
served only to defer for a few hours the period of slaughter. 
The action drew to a close ; one hundred of the enemy had 
fallen ; not one of the Plymouth troops escaped. The de- 
struction of Pierce and his gallant force was the greatest 
calamity which befell the Plymouth colony duting the war. 
The burning of Seekonk and of Providence speedily fol- 
lowed, and once more the Indians were masters of the situ- 
ation. 

The government, counting so many reverses, scarcely knew 
what to do. A council of war was convened, and orders 

' Mather, 25. Baylies, ii. 



112 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

were given for the raising of fresh troops. Meanwhile those 
already in the field remained active. On the 21st of April, 
" one of the most memorable fights in the annals of the Mas- 
sachusetts colony " was commenced in an attack on Sudbury. 
The Indians numbered fifteen hundred warriors, while the 
force of the English was comparatively small. The fight was 
severe, and ended in a complete factory for the former. The 
brave Captain Wadsworth, of Milton, here found his death ; 
most of his men were either killed or taken prisoners, and 
only a very few of their companions escaped to tell the tale. 
Although the Indians withdrew without much injury from the 
struggle, they were soon reduced to great suffering. Starva- 
tion threatened . them on all sides, and engendered diseases 
made fearful ravages among them. This miserable condition 
saved many a town from attack, and contributed in no small 
degree to the ultimate ruin of Philip. Many also of the 
allied tribes began to devise measures to effect separate trea- 
ties with the colonists, with the hope that by so doing they 
would receive that mercy which was denied by the colonial 
governments to prisoners taken in arms. Numbers deserted 
Philip, and retired to the north, while those who passed over 
to the English sought by every means to induce others to 
follow their example, hoping thereby to save their own lives. 
Hence Philip's cause, at the time when it might have been 
most flourishing, was falling to pieces, and success, so long 
wavering between the parties, inclined towards the colonists. 
On the 18th of May one hundred and fifty men, raised in 
the towns of Hadley, Hatfield, and Northampton, under the 
command of Captains Turner and Holyoke, marched to the 
upper falls of the Connecticut, where the Indians were en- 
camped. Upon arriving, they dismounted in silence, fastened 
their horses, and proceeded cautiously. The savages were 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 113 

sunk in deep slumber ; no scouts were abroad ; no watch bad 
been set. The assailants took deliberate aim. The survivors 
sprang to their feet, and in the dim twilight friend could not 
be distinguished from foe. " The Mohawk ! the Mohawk ! " 
was the dreaded name echoed from every mouth ; some 
sprang into the river and were drowned ; others leaped into 
their canoes and were carried over the falls ; and all who fled 
were pursued, and immediately cut down. Victory had de- 
clared for the English, and " a great and notable slaughter 
was made amongst " the enemy. On the return march the 
former were attacked by a large body under the command of 
Philip himself, and suffered a loss of thirty-eight of their 
number, among whom was Captain Turner, " whose name is 
perpetuated in that of the beautiful falls near which his 
corpse was afterwards found." 

At length the distress of the Indians and the misery of 
their condition became known in the colonial councils, and 
the occasion was seized by these bodies to invite the enemy 
to accept of peace. In July vast numbers of the latter came 
in and surrendered. Others chose to remain in the destitute 
condition in which they were placed, and roamed through 
the woods in small parties, searching for berries, and digging 
up the earth for roots and ground-nuts. Often they wan- 
dered two or three days without tasting food. Loathsome 
animals — toads, frogs, tortoises, and foxes — were relished 
as a feast ; and when even these could not be obtained, they 
peeled the soft inner bark from trees, and chewed it with 
greediness. Sometimes the mother fell down in the thick 
woods with her babe and expired, while the famished crew 
whom she had followed continued their wanderings onward, 
expecting soon to share her fate. 

Rallying a few chosen men around him, Philip fled to 
15 



114 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Mount Hope. " It seemed as though his evil destiny had 
overtaken him, and that the day of his destruction was at 
hand, and that in future he was to be hunted through the 
woods like a wild heast, by open enemies and treacherous 
friends." Mournfully he reflected on his losses, and, as a 
bird startled and driven from her nest and flying about be- 
wildered, he sighed for that safety he knew not where to 
find. Soon the entire force of the colonies had gathered 
upon his track, and surrounded his place of refuge. During 
the pursuit, the sachem's wife and child fell into the hands 
of the English. By Captain Church they were sent to 
Bridgewater, and thence to Plymouth. " My heart breaks," 
murmured Philip, after learning of this misfortune. The 
Indians were now totally disheartened ; nor can we wonder 
that it was so. Whither should they flee ? And yet flee 
they must, or be taken by their foes. Dark indeed was the 
prospect before Philip and the few who still adhered to his 
fortunes. 

Meanwhile Church, worn out with fatigue and constant 
exposure to the weather, returned to Plymouth. It was his 
desire to abandon military operations; but this the govern- 
ment would not permit him to do. In obedience to their 
exhortation. Church prepared for another expedition. As 
usual, he raised his own forces, volunteers joined him in con- 
siderable numbers, and he again marched, with ^he hope of 
capturing Philip, to Pocasset. The swamp in which Philip 
was concealed "■ was a fit retreat for a despairing man, being 
one of those waste and dismal places to which few ever wan- 
dered, covered with rank and dense vegetation. The place 
was well suited to awake all the terrors of the imagination ; 
to any eye but that of the savage, it was like the ' valley of 
the shadow of death ; ' the cypress and oak trees hung heavy 



KING PHILIP'S WAR. 115 

and still over the accursed soil ; the faint gleam of the pools 
and sluggish lakes on every side, in the starlight, and the 
howl of the wolf, fitfully, as if it warned that the hour was 
nigh." * On the 12th of August, Church arranged his men 
so that it was scarcely possible for Philip to escape. At this 
moment a single shot was heard in the distance, and a ball 
whistled through the air over their heads. Church supposed 
that it had been fired by accident ; but before he could speak 
an entire volley was discharged. The battle had begun. 
Philip, unexpected!}^ aroused, throwing his belt and powder- 
horn over his head, seized his gun and fled. Unaware of the 
ambush, he ran directly towards two of Church's men. When 
he was quite near, the colonist levelled his gun, but it missed 
fire. He bade the Indian fire, which he did with effect. 
Philip of Mount Hope, the bravest of braves, and the most 
merciless of foes, fell pierced to the heart. Captain Church, 
forgetting that the honor of the conqueror is measured by 
that allotted to his foe, exclaimed that, " forasmuch as he had 
caused many an Englishman's body to be unburied, and to 
rot above ground, not one of his bones should be buried." 
The head was cut off and the body quartered.^ 

" Such was the fate of Philip, which was immediately fol- 
lowed by a termination of the war in every quarter except 
the eastern frontier. It was a war of extermination between 
his followers and the whites : happy if the kindred tribes had 
learned wisdom from the fatal lesson. Thus fell King Philip ! 
Yes ! the savage fought a relentless war ; but he fought for 
his native land, for the mound that covered the bones of his 
parents ; he fought for his squaw and pappoose ; — no, I wiU 
not defraud them of the sacred names which our hearts 

' Came, Life of Eliot. 

* Autliorities, Hubbard, Church, Drake, Baylies, &c. . 



116 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

understand; — he fought for his wife and children. He 
would have been, not a savage, — he would have been a 
thing for which language has no name, — for which neither 
human nor brute existence has a parallel, — if he had not 
fought for them." ^ " The death of Philip in retrospect," 
says Holmes, " makes different impressions from what were 
made at the time of the event. It was then considered as 
the extinction of an insolent and implacable enemy ; it is 
now viewed as the fall of a great warrior, a penetrating 
statesman, and a mighty prince. It then excited universal 
joy and congratulation, as a prelude to the close of a merci- 
less war ; it now awakens sober reflections on the instability 
of empire, the peculiar destiny of the aboriginal race, and 
the inscrutable decrees of Heaven. The patriotism of the 
man was then overlooked in the cruelty of the savage, and 
little allowance was made for the natural jealousy of the sov- 
ereign on account of the barbarities of the warrior. Philip, 
in the progress of the English settlements, foresaw the loss 
of his territory, and the extinction of his tribe, and made one 
mighty effort to prevent those calamities." ^ 

The war was ended ; and there was scarcely a family in all 
the colonies that was not arrayed in mourning. Six hundred 
of the English had fallen upon the battle-field ; twelve or 
thirteen towns had been destroyed ; and the whole expense, 
including losses and disbursements, exceeded half a million 
of dollars. No Indian war which has occurred within the 
limits of the United States was ever attended with such 
disastrous results as this of King Philip. The advance of. 
New England was retarded by it fifty years ; but its evil 
effects were, in process of time, entirely obliterated. 

' Everett, Oration on Lathrop. * Holmes, Annals. 



THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER. 117 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER. 

Since the accession of Charles II., England had chafed 
under the independent attitude of the colonies. The com- 
mission of 1664 had signally failed of its object, and all 
attempts to reduce the colonies to servile obedience had like- 
wise been foiled. But not yet was the English court will- 
ing to relinquish the effort to subdue the spirit of a people 
whose very perverseness stung its pride. Accordingly, in 
1672, it voted to send new agents to America, who should 
"from time to time report how that people stood affected." 
These agents never came over, however ; and as an offset 
to the apparent lack of courage on the part of the court, 
the Council for Plantations resolved itself into a Council for 
Trade and Foreign Plantations, and delayed further pro- 
ceedings.^ 

From the very first, Massachusetts had shown herself the 
most defiant of all the colonies, and in the face of opposi- 
tion had found prosperity. Her commerce was reaching out 
its arms in every direction, and wealth was pouring into her 
treasuries ; while New Hampshire and Maine, and even a 
part of the province of Acadia, were included within her 
jurisdiction. But a dark hour in her history was rapidly 
approaching. 

While England viewed with jealous eyes the widely ex- 

' Evelyn, Diary, i. 434-459. 



118 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

tended traffic of the colony, fearing that the latter " would 
not only ruin the trade of this kingdom, but would leave 
no sort of dependence from that country to this," Gorges 
and Mason again offered to dispose of all their claims to the 
crown ; but the monarch was too poor to purchase them. 
The General Court of Massachusetts, although it had in its 
employ no standing agent in England, managed to gain a 
knowledge of this and other proceedings dangerous to its 
future welfare, and at once adopted measures of defence. 
The king, resolved upon " reassuming the government of 
Massachusetts," sent the insolent Edward Randolph to New 
England. He arrived at Boston in the early summer of 
1676, and at once waited upon Governor Leverett. He had 
come with full powers to carry out the will of his sover- 
eign — a duty scarcely possible to be performed at such a 
time. Without paying much attention either to his creden- 
tials or his proposals, the governor regarded him "as Mr. 
Mason's agent," and bade him withdraw.^ The governor 
also gave him to understand that " the laws of England 
were binding no further than consisted with their interests ; 
that by the charter, full legislative powers were conferred 
upon the company ; that all matters in dispute were to be 
concluded by their determination, without any appeal ; and 
that his majesty ought not to retrench their liberties, which 
he had agreed to confirm, but leave them to enjoy, or even 
to enlarge the same, inasmuch as upon their own charge, 
and without any contribution from the crown, they had 
' made so large a plantation in the wilderness.' "^ Randolph 
returned to England one year later, execrated by all whom 
he left behind. 

In this same year, William Stoughton and Peter Bulkley 

' Hutcliinson, Coll., 505. * Barry, i. 456. 



THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER. 119 

sailed for England, for the purpose of " making answer 
to the complaints of Gorges and Mason," and of negotiat- 
ing that " affair with safety to the country." Hearings were 
granted to them shortly after their arrival, which resulted, 
however, only in the. defeat of their mission. The claims 
of Massachusetts to the right of jurisdiction over Maine 
and New Hampshire were rejected ; and " the former 
province was confirmed to Gorges and his heirs," while for 
the government of the latter province the crown issued a 
special commission. At this point John Usher, a merchant 
of Boston, purchased the whole right and interest of Gorges' 
heirs, and assigned it over to the governor and company. 
Massachusetts rejoiced in such a victory, and the king be- 
came sorely enraged. So the end was not yet. 

Pending these proceedings, the court had determined to 
send over a royal governor, " wholly supported by his majes- 
ty," and also a collector for the port of Boston. Ran- 
dolph was chosen to fill the latter office, and again ai-rived 
in Boston in December, 1678, where he was welcomed 
" more like a spy than one of his majesty's servants," and 
was soon made by everybody the object of abuse. ^ The 
agents of the colony did not reach home until the follow- 
ing year, bearing letters from the king. According to these 
letters, the king demanded that new agents should visit 
England within six months, " to attend to such business as 
remained unsettled ; " that freedom of conscience should be 
allowed to members of the church of England ; that all 
freemen were to be eligible to office ; that military commis- 
sions and proceedings of justice should run in his majesty's 
name ; and that an assignment of the purchase of Gorges' 
claim should be made to the king, on repayment of the 

» 1 Mass. H. Coll., vi. 92-94. Chalmers, Annals, 408. 



120 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

purchase-money. Such were only a few of the royal 
demands.^ 

The magistrates prepared and sent over a reply to these 
demands, to which the king returned answer, ordering them 
" seriously to reflect upon his directions, and to send over, 
within three months, such persons as they saw fit to choose, 
furnished with sufficient instructions to attend the regulation 
and settlement of their government, and to answer the claims 
which Robert Mason had set up to the lands between the 
Naumkeag and Merrimack Rivers." ^ Although they were 
appointed, no agents were sent over. Randolph having re- 
turned to England, "soured by disappointment," and accused, 
before the king, the " Bostoneers " as " usurpers, forming 
themselves into a commonwealth, denying appeals to Eng- 
land, neglecting the oath of allegiance, protecting regicides," 
et cetera, came back to Boston, in the winter of 1681, bear- 
ing a letter from the king, dated October 21, which con- 
cludes in the following words : " We once more charge 
and require you forthwith to send over your agents fully 
empowered and instructed to attend the regulation of that 
our government, and to answer the irregularity of your pro- 
ceedings therein ; in default whereof we are fully resolved, 
in Trinity term next ensuing, to direct our attorney-general 
to bring a quo warranto in our Court of King's Bench, where- 
by our charter granted unto you, with all the powers thereof, 
may be legally evicted and made void." ^ 

It was deemed best to give immediate attention to this 
kingly summons, inasmuch as the strength of the royalist 
party in Boston was constantly increasing. William Stough- 
ton and Joseph Dudley were appointed as new agents to be 
sent to England. The former refused to go, however, and 

' Barry, i. 464. * Hutch. Coll., 622. ^ Chalmers, Annals, 443-449. 



THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER. 121 

John Richards was chosen in his stead. The agents departed, 
pledged " not to do or consent to anything that should vio- 
late or infringe the liberties and privileges " granted by the 
charter. In order to make affairs as unpleasant as possible, 
the busy, vigorous, and unscrupulous Randolph followed them 
to England. He was earnest in his demand for a quo war- 
ranto, and faithless to the objects he had promised to cherish. 

Of course, when the agents arrived, they found his majesty 
in a perturbed state of mind. Their reception was anything 
but hearty, and when a hearing was granted to them it was 
only to be told that their powers were wholly inadequate. It 
at once became evident that a quo warranto would speedily 
follow, and that Massachusetts, already humbled, was soon 
to witness the downfall of its charter. The people of the 
colony, upon receipt of this intelligence, were much aggrieved. 
A war against the charter implied a war against the commu- 
nity. " The farmers in the country talked of it at their 
hearth-sides ; the people of Boston pondered it in their ware- 
houses, discussed it upon the exchange and in the halls of 
legislation. It went with them to the church, and was the 
burden of their prayers. The clergy w.ere aroused, and their 
opinions and arguments, on the one side and the other, were 
given in writing or uttered in public ; and as they had ever 
been loyal to the colony, so now for the last time they de- 
clared themselves irrevocably in favor of adhering to the 
charter." ^ 

When Randolph, who had been summoned." to prosecute 
a quo warranto^'' arrived in England, in May, 1683, he 
brought before the Council for Plantations '' articles of high 
crimes and misdemeanors " against the Massachusetts colony, 
together with such " articles, witnesses, and proofs " as he 

' Barry, i. 473. 

16 



122 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

was able to produce. On the other hand, the agents, unwill- 
ing to undertake the defence, returned to Massachusetts. 
Three days after their arrival, on the 26th of October, Ran- 
dolph reached Boston, bearing the quo warranto. If, said 
the colonists, liberty was to receive its death-blow, better 
that it should die by the violence and injustice of others 
than by their own weakness. The governor and his assist- 
ants were fully persuaded of the hopelessness of further 
resistance, and .therefore resolved to remind the king of his 
former promises, and " not to contend with his majesty in a 
court of law." They promised to send agents " empowered 
to receive his majesty's commands." 

The resolution of the governor and his assistants having 
been submitted to the deputies for concurrence, the latter, 
after a debate of two weeks' duration, placed their decision 
on record : " The deputies consent not, but adhere to their 
former bills." The people of B6ston sustained the deputies. 
Said Increase Mather, at a town meeting, " I verily believe 
we shall sin against the God of heaven if we vote an affirm- 
ative to it. . . . The loyal citizens of London would not 
surrender their charter, lest their posterity should curse them 
for it. And shall we, then, do such a thing ? I hope there 
is not one freeman in Boston that can be guilty of it." Ad- 
dresses, urging forbearance, were forwarded to the king, but 
to no purpose. On the 16th of April, 1684, a scire facial 
was issued in England. Before the colony could act upon 
it, the charter was conditionally adjudged to be forfeited. 
The judgment was confirmed on the first day of the Michael- 
mas term, and in the summer of 1685 a copy of it was re- 
ceived in Boston. 

Thus tyranny triumphed over weakness, and the charter 
which Winthrop had brought to America, and on which had 



THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER. 123 

rested the cherished fabric of New England liberties, fell to 
the ground. At nearly the same time died Charles II., whose 
only feeling for his fellow-men was that of an amused con- 
tempt. 

The accession of James II., in February, 1685, was signal- 
ized by his pledge to .preserve the laws inviolate, and to pro- 
tect the church. The whole country welcomed the promise 
with enthusiasm ; but the New England colonists foresaw 
in it only a despotism that had marked them for its victims. 

While the General Court was in session, in May, 1686, the 
commission of Joseph Dudley as president of the colony was 
presented and read. The assembly at once adjourned, and 
" the deputies returned in sadness to their homes." On the 
25th, the new president and council met, when the former 
proceeded to say, " The necessary alterations in the rule and 
form of his majesty's government, from the method late used 
by the government while it stood by the charter, as they 
need be but a few, so we assure you shall with all care and 
prudence be continued as plain and as easy as is possible, and 
we shall hasten humbly to lay them at his most gracious 
majestj^'s feet, for his allowance and confirmation." ^ Mean- 
while Randolph served his writs of qao warranto against 
Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

It became evident before long that Dudley and Randolph 
were not on the best of terms ; and owing to their dislike 
of the so-called " evil genius of New England," the people 
naturally took sides with Dudley. Each impugned the other 
in the most villanous terms ; and while outsiders were 
watching the controversy. Sir Edmund Andros, " with com- 
panies of soldiers brought from Europe to support what was 
to be imposed " upon the colony, landed at Boston, and pro- 

» Barry, i. 480. 



124 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

claimed himself " captain general and governor-in-chief" of 
New England. On the day of his arrival, December 20, 
1686, Andros " repaired forthwith to the town-house, at- 
tended thither by a great number of merchants and others, 
with all the militia of horse and foot," and there made a 
" short speech." The council met on the following day, and 
it was ordered that "all members of the late government 
should be- summoned to meet at Boston, on Thursday, the 
30th instant.." A demand was also sent for the surrender of 
the charters of Rhode Island and. Connecticut. On the day 
appointed, the new government was wholly organized, and a 
proclamation issued that " all officers, both civil and military, 
should be continued in their places of trust, and that the 
laws not repugnant to the laws of England should be, and 
observed during his excellency's pleasure." ^ A series of 
measures followed of the most vexatious character. Prefer- 
ments were lavished upon strangers ; an arbitrary govern- 
ment was established ; while " the wicked walked on every 
side, and the vilest men were exalted." A tax of twenty 
pence on each poll was levied, and also one penny in the 
pound upon " all the late colonies and provinces, towards 
defraying the public charges of the government." A refusal 
to comply with such demands was the beginning of trouble, 
of which countless fines and imprisonments were the result. 
Furthermore, the power of the press was bridled ; a restraint 
was placed upon marriages ; every encouragement was given 
to the establishment of Episcopal churches, and a tax lev- 
ied for the support of the same. Excise laws were also 
passed and enforced ; no one was allowed to leave the coun- 
try without permission ; and, indeed, the schools of learning 
were suffered to go to decay. Oppression threatened the 

' Council Records, 105-107. 2 M. H. Coll., viii. 181, 182. 



THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER. 125 

country witli Tiiin ; and the oppressors, quoting an opinion 
current among the mercantile monopolists of England, an- 
swered without disguise, " It is not for his majesty's interest 
you should thrive." Before the close of 1688, the whole 
seaboard, from Maryland to the St. Croix, was united into one 
despotism, of which Boston was the capital. 

The clergy openly condemned the tyranny of their rulers, 
and, while preaching rebellion, enkindled as with a flame 
the minds of the people. Before the bursting of. the storm, 
Mr. Increase Mather, who had so valiantly fought for the 
charter, was sent to England " to excite the clemency of the 
king." Upon arriving he found that the heart of the mon- 
arch was itself steeped in despotism, and not at all inclined 
to favor liberty in the colonies. But relief came at length, 
from a revolution whose influence was to pervade the Euro- 
pean world. 

The reign of the Stuarts had suddenly come to an end, 
and a new race of sovereigns sat upon the English throne. 
All who were in favor of toleration saw in William of Or- 
ange " one in whom they confided for the redress of their 
spiritual grievances ; and the liberal nobility saw in him one 
to redress their civil wrongs." On that eventful day, " hu- 
manity rejoiced at the redemption of English liberties ; she 
reproved the unnatural conduct of daughters who drove 
their father into poverty and exile ; she sighed for the Roman 
Catholics who were oppressed, for the dissenters who were 
but tolerated ; and as on the evening of the long struggle 
which had been bequeathed by Rogers and Hooper, and had 
lasted more than a century and a half, she selected a resting- 
place, it was but to gather strength, with the fixed purpose 
of renewing her journey on the dawn of morning." ^ 

' Bancroft, ii, 445. 



126 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

On the 4tli day of Aj)ril, 1689, the news of the invasion 
of England reached Boston. The messenger, Mr. John Wins- 
low, was immediately imprisoned ; but his message could 
not be suppressed. The fire which had been smouldering, 
burst into a blaze. On the morning of the 18th an alarm 
was sounded. George, commander of the Rose frigate, was 
made prisoner by Green and the Boston ship-carpenters. 
There was a patriotic mob in the streets, which all the king's 
hirelings could not quell. The companies of militia rallied 
at the town-house ; and before noon many of the leaders of 
oppression were in chains. On a sudden old Simon Brad- 
street, the last governor of the colony under the charter, 
drew near the town-house. Peal upon peal burst upon the 
surrounding air.- The old magistrates were reinstated as a 
council of safety ; and a declaration was read defending the 
insurrection as a duty to God and the country. 

And then the cry arose against Andros and Randolph ; 
and while the colonial colors floated on Beacon Hill, a squad 
was sent to the fort to demand its surrender. Sir Edmund 
refused. About four o'clock the governor was seen attempt- 
ing to escape to the frigate ; but the movements of the com- 
panies were too quick for him. Before another hour was up, 
Andros, through the very streets where he had first dis- 
played his scarlet coat and his arbitrary commission, was 
marched to the town-house, and thence to prison. On the 
19th the fort itself was taken, and the frigate was mastered. 

The colonists paused for a while before taking the next 
important step. On the 22d of May, the proclamation of 
William and Mary not having yet reached the country, forty 
out of fift3'-four towns in Massachusetts voted to re-assume 
the old charter. Meanwhile the tidings of the late proceed- 
ings at Boston had reached Plymouth, and Nathaniel Clark, 



THE DOWNFALL OF THE CHARTER. 127 

the agent of Andros, was in jail, while Hinckley, the former 
governor, resumed his place. Soon afterwards Joseph Dud- 
ley was taken prisoner and conducted to Boston. Connecti- 
cut, following the example of Massachusetts, brought forth 
the charter from its hiding-place, and began new chapters in 
the records of freedom. The southern colonies imitated New 
England ; and thus did a popular insurrection, beginning at 
Boston, extend to the Chesapeake and to the wilderness. 
When the tidings of the proclamation of William and Mary 
reached Boston, the people were so rejoiced as to make " a 
great noise in the world." 

On the 6th of June the representatives met in Boston, and 
voted the unconditional resumption of the charter, and re- 
solved that all the laws in force May 12, 1686, should be 
continued until further orders. At the same time Increase 
Mather was holding converse with the king, and urging the 
restoration of the charter. He succeeded only in this — 
in obtaining an order that the government of the colony 
should be continued under the old charter until a new one 
was settled. Then remarked the king, " I will forthwith 
give order that Sir Edmund Andros shall be removed from 
the government of New England, and be called unto an 
account for his maladministration. And I will direct that 
the present king and queen shall be proclaimed by the for- 
mer magistrates." "Sir," replied the agent, " they will do 
it with the joyfulest hearts in the world." 

Andros, having reached England, was summoned to appear 
before the council, on the 17th of April, 1690 ; but owing to 
some irregularity in the drawing up of the charges, further 
proceedings were quashed, and the villain was discharged 
from custody. His associates were likewise released. We 
have only to trace the history of these men one step farther. 



128 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Andros afterwards became governor of Virginia, Randolph 
received an appointment in the West Indies, and Dudley 
became chief justice of New York. 

For some time it had been evident that the king had re- 
solved to erect a new government in Massachusetts, which 
was to be known as the Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
At length the Province charter of 1692 was obtained. By 
its terms the territories of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and 
Maine were consolidated into one jurisdiction ; the king was 
to appoint the governor, deputy governor, and secretary, 
while the people could choose twentj^-eight councillors. Each 
town was allowed two deputies to represent them in the 
General Court ; rights of citizenship were to be respected, 
and liberty of conscience granted to all but Papists. By 
this charter, the dependence of the colonies upon the crown 
was secured. On the 14th of May, Sir William Phips, the 
first governor of the new province, arrived in Boston, " wel- 
comed by a majority of the people." 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 129 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 

The erection of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay- 
was the " second act of the great drama, whose third brought 
freedom to a wide-spread republic." It also introduced a 
new era into the history of New England. Shortly after 
the arrival of Sir William Phips, a government was organized 
under the new charter. At the first session of the General 
Court, held in June, 1692, the laws which had been enacted 
under the colonial charter were confirmed until the follow- 
ing November. During the recess the laws were revised, 
and certain portions of them were submitted for the king's 
approval. One of these acts set forth that " no aid, tax, 
talliage, assessment, custom, loan, benevolence, or imposition, 
should be laid, assessed, or levied on any of their majesties' 
subjects, or their estates, on any pretence whatsoever, but 
by the act and consent of the governor, council, and repre- 
sentatives of the people, assembled in General Court." This, 
of course, was equivalent to a denial of the right of Parlia- 
ment to tax the colonies for. any purpose whatsoever ; and 
as such it was speedily rejected by the king. Among other 
rejected acts were the one claiming the benefit of the writ of 
habeas corpus, and the one relative to the punishment of capi- 
tal ofi'enders, — the former on the ground that " the privilege 
had not yet been granted to the plantations," and the latter 
because it was founded upon the Mosaic rather than upon 
17 



130 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

English law. Of the acts approved by the king, several 
were of the utmost importance, more particularly the one 
which enjoined a religious observance of the Sabbath, and 
those which provided for the settlement and support of min- 
isters, and for the fostering of education. It is to these wise 
provisions oi our forefathers that we to-day owe our pros- 
perity. 

Sir William Phips, the first governor under the new char- 
ter, was a native of New England. Although an ardent 
lover of his country, he owed his elevation more to a concur- 
rence of favorable circumstances than to the dignity of his 
character or to the sharpness of his intellect. He had fol- 
lowed the sea for many years, and had accumulated ample 
wealth. Returning home to Boston, he became high sheriff 
under the administration of Andros ; and having united with 
the North Church, of which Cotton Mather was pastor, he 
not only proved himself a zealous disciple of Puritanism, but 
rose into high favor with the people. When the time came 
to nominate officers, Increase Mather, the agent of the colony 
in England, proposed the name of Phips as chief magistrate. 
The latter was chosen, and as early as possible returned home 
from England, whither he had gone on a visit. Among his 
associates in the new government were Saltonstall, • Brad- 
street, Appleton, Hathorne, Bradford, Hutchinson, all of 
whom, with others, had held office under the old charter.^ 

As we have already stated, Governor Phips owed his 
elevation to office to the influence of the Mathers. If he had 
cut loose from this dependence after his inauguration, he 
would have lost nothing himself, and his country would have 
gained more. Sir William's intellect was exceedingly dull ; 
his manner was headstrong ; he knew little of the principles 

' Hutchinson, ii. 20, 21, 69, 70. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 131 

of politics ; and in religion he was a victim to superstition. 
To the Mathers, therefore, his friends and his favorers, he 
looked for that political energy, culture, and safe reliance, 
which he himself did not possess. Honest enough, good 
enough, and benevolent enough, he was, nevertheless, "much 
better fitted to manage the crew of a man-of-war than to sit 
at the helm of the ship of state." ^ We have the assertion 
of one of his biographers that " he would often speak to the 
members of the General Assembly in such terms as these : 
" Gentlemen, you may make yourselves as easy as you will 
forever. Consider what may have any tendency to your wel- 
fare, and you may be sure that, whatever bills you offer to 
me, consistent with the honor and interest of the crown, I 
will pass them readily. I do but seek opportunities to serve 
you. Had it not been for this, I had never accepted the 
government of this province. And whenever you have set- 
tled such a body of good laws, that no person coming after 
me may make you uneasy, I shall desire not one day longer 
to continue in the government." ^ Such sentiments are 
undoubtedly liberal ; but in the case of Phips, they did not 
correspond with his administration. 

Of the part which the new governor took in the witch- 
craft delusion, some mention will be made in a subsequent 
chapter. Of his vigilance in checking the hostilities of the 
Indians much might be said in commendation. At the same 
time he adopted a conciliatory policy, and in 1693 formed a 
league, which, if it had been kept, *' would have restored 
peace to many desolated homes, and have delivered the 
people from that state of alarm in which they were involved 
for about twenty years." A trivial circumstance, a personal 
collision with Mr. Brenton, collector for the port of Boston, led 

' Hutchinson, ii. 71. ' Mather, Magn., ch. xv. 



132 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

to the removal of Governor Phips. There was a strong party 
in England indulging prejudices against him, and suits at 
law were instituted for alleged misdemeanors. Prior to his 
departure to answer to these charges, an incident transpired 
which goes far to prove the decline of his popularity. In 
1G94 a motion for an address to the king against the re- 
moval* of Phips was made and carried b}' a bare majority. 
Nearly all of the inhabitants of Boston who represented the 
country towns voted in the negative. In order to prevent 
any further trouble, " the friends of Phips inserted a clause 
in a bill then pending requiring residence as a qualification 
for town representatives. The change thus introduced by 
the prerogative or court party, for merely personal ends, 
was highl}^ important ; for by requiring towns to choose one 
of their own citizens as delegates to the General Court, it 
brought the questions of the day directly to their doors, and 
compelled them to take an immediate interest in political 
discussions." ^ 

William Stoughton, a graduate of Harvard College, " a 
man of cold affections, proud, self-willed, and covetous of 
distinction," now assumed the management of the govern- 
ment. He had been educated for the ministry, but " the 
people judged him proper to take his father's place as a magis- 
trate," and the remainder of his life was devoted to politics. 
Under Phips he had served as lieutenant governor, with 
credit to himself ; and " to the day of his death, notwith- 
standing there were some whose friendship he could never 
secure, the body of the people regarded him with favor ; and 
he left as few enemies as any one who had taken so active a 
part in the government, and who had passed through so 
many eventful vicissitudes." The administration of Stough- 

' Barry, ii. 67. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 133 

ton was of only short duration ; for during the summer of 1695 
the Earl of Bellamont was appointed governor. Mr. Stough- 
ton, however, continued to fill the office until the arrival of 
the new magistrate in June, 1G97. 

At this time the crown was in search of a person capable 
of enforcing obedience to the laws of trade, which had been 
much neglected on the high seas, and the Earl of Bellamont 
was thought to be thus competent. In New York, where 
he first arrived from England, he was waited upon by a 
committee from Massachusetts, who tendered him the well 
wishes of the people. His commission included New York 
as well as Massachusetts ; and he lost no time in entering 
upon the duties of his office. In May, 1699, he reached 
Boston, and was welcomed with marked respect. So sensi- 
tive was he to the attentions of the people that he remarked 
to his wife, " We should treat these gentlemen well, for 
they give us our bread." On all occasions he showed him- 
self a perfect gentleman, always affable and courteous ; and 
as a magistrate he conducted affairs with an honesty of pur- 
pose and a moderation worthy of all praise. As a proof of 
his popularity, it merits to be said that during his stay in 
the province, the General Court granted him thie sum of 
twenty-five hundred pounds for the support of his govern- 
ment. Hitherto an almost insignificant sum had been as- 
signed for this purpose. Much to the regret of his constitu- 
ents, Lord Bellamont died in 1701. His best epitaph and 
the strongest commentary on the character of his predeces- 
sors, is furnished in his own words : " I will pocket none of 
the public money myself, nor shall there be any embezzlement 
by others." ' 

As soon as the intelligence of Lord Bellamont's death 
reached England, Joseph Dudley, a native of Massachu- 



134 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

setts, who " truly honored find loved the religion, learning, 
and virtue of New England, and was himself a worthy patron 
and example of them all," ^ but whose character, nevertheless, 
was that of profound selfishness, succeeded in enlisting the 
sympathies of Cotton Mather, who wrote a letter to the king 
favoring his cause. He was accordingly appointed governor, 
and received his commission only a few months before the 
death of the king. Upon arriving in Massachusetts he re- 
ceived a welcome even from his opponents. On meeting his 
first assembly in 1702, he recognized among the members the 
faces of many of the council which had imprisoned him in 
1689, and gave " instances of his remembering the old quarrel, 
and the people, on their part, resolved never to forget it." 
It was plain to see that he had acted imprudently, and that 
the current of prejudice was turned against him. One of 
his earliest proceedings was to demand for himself a stated 
salary. " As to settling a salary for the governor," replied 
the house, "it is altogether new to us; nor can we think it 
agreeable to our present constitution ; but we shall be ready 
to do what may be proper for his support." In the summer 
he visited Fort Pemaquid, afterwards called Fort William 
Henry, and renewed the treaty with the Indians. Two 
years later, he wished to rebuild this fort, and the question 
was brought before the General Court ; but the house, in- 
dignant at the insolent manner of the magistrate, which had 
been displayed upon former occasions, refused either to 
rebuild the fort at Pemaquid, or to contribute funds for the 
support of the fort at Piscataqua. Here began the contro- 
versies which nothing but independence could solve. Dud- 
ley became more and more unpopular ; and a suspicion soon 
arose that his sympathies were wholly with the court party. 

' Boston News Letter, No. 83-1. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 135 

In vain did he demand concessions to the royal prerogative, 
and useless were his onslaughts upon the chartered liberties 
of New England. " This country," wrote Paul Dudley, his 
son and the attorney general of the province, " will never 
be worth living in, for lawyers and gentlemen, till the char- 
ter is taken away. My father and I sometimes talk of the 
queen's establishing a court of chancery here." ^ 

Mr. Dudley's conduct finally became insufferable ; and in 
1708, an attempt was made to deprive him of his* office. 
A petition charging him with! " unheard-of corruptions and 
oppressions, and unjust and partial practices," was forwarded 
to Queen Anne. The storm of opposition had reached a 
fearful height, and but for more serious ev^its, it would 
have entirely overwhelmed the magistrate. A war with the 
French engrossed the attention of the people ; and in the 
mean time the party in favor of the governor gradually in- 
creased its strength, while that of the opposition proportion- 
ally diminished. The close of his administration was more 
tranquil than any one had a right to expect. In 1714, 
George I. came upon the English throne, and Mr. Dudley, 
now grown old, began to conduct himself in a more gracious 
manner. His last days were his best ; and when, six years 
later, he went to his ]'est, his friends outnumbered his foes. 
Mr. Dudley " was as good a governor as one could be who 
loved neither freedom nor his native land. His grave is no 
more honored ; his memory has perished from among those 
whose interests he flattered, and is preserved only in the 
country of his birth. He who loved himself more than free- 
dom or his country, is left without one to palliate his self- 
ishness." 2 

France and England were early rivals in the discovery and 

* Hutchinson, ii. 140. . " Bancroft, iii. 100. 



136 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

settlement of the new world. Although matched quite 
equally in maritime skill, the balance of power eventually 
turned in favor of England. As early as 1620, the sturdy 
pioneers of France had laid the foundations .of Quebec, and 
there planted the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church. 
New settlements were quickly formed ; and the colony of 
New France sprang into existence. The people of New Eng- 
land, being Protestants, viewed with jealous eyes the rapid 
progress of their neighbors at the north and west. " In point 
of population, indeed, the English outnumbered the French 
at least ten to one. It was not, therefore, in this respect 
that their power was dreaded. They were more formidable 
from their influence over the Indians within their borders. 
Their missionaries, with a zeal which has been highly ap- 
plauded, had planted the cross in every village, and had 
scores of converts in every tribe ; yet with the craft and 
duplicity which distinguished the Jesuits, instead of seeking 
to allay the brutal ferocity of the savages, they had instilled 
into them their own hatred of the English and their religion. 
The natural aversion of the tribes to the progress of the 
white race facilitated their plans ; and no mass so vast and 
so combustible ever waited long for a spark to inflame it. As 
rivals in the fur trade, and rivals in the fisheries, collisions 
had frequently arisen ; and the fires of discord were smoul- 
dering in New England, and in Acadia and Canada." ^ 

In 1689, at the time when the authority of Andros was 
overthrown, the General Court of Massachusetts conceived 
the project of making an attack upon Port Royal and Que- 
bec. Upon the arrival of Phips, long known as an experi- 
enced seaman, the expedition was made ready and intrusted 
to his care. A fleet of seven vessels, carrying between seven 

* Barry, ii. 77. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 137 

and eight hundred men, sailed to Port Royal, in the follow- 
ing spring, and forced its surrender. Enough plunder was 
obtained to defray all expenses ; and • from this time onward 
Sir William Phips assumed control of the whole sea-coast 
extending from Port Royal to Boston. Shortly afterwards, 
the Indians, prompted by the French, began to commit fright- 
ful ravages in the New England territory. These encroach- 
ments induced a general war. England was early apprised 
of the intentions of the colonists, and was urged to forward 
a supply of arms and ammunition for the invasion of Canada. 
This request, owing to troubles which had arisen in the 
mother country, was not complied with ; whereupon Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, and New York, having formed an 
alliance, met in congress and resolved to proceed together." ^ 
On the 9th of August, 1690, a fleet of upwards of thirty 
vessels sailed from Nantasket, and arrived before Quebec in 
the early autumn. A land army of about eight hundred men 
was marching towards Montreal by way of Lake Champlain. 
Meanwhile Count Frontenac, governor of Canada, having 
received intelligence of these proceedings, lost no time in 
preparing for the defence of the place. Placing the hatchet 
in the hands of La Plaque, the Indian informer, and grasping 
his own, " he chanted the war-song and danced the war- 
dance as a pledge of co-operation in repelling the invaders." 
Not many days elapsed, however, before he discovered that 
his fears were premature. Dissensions had arisen in the 
ranks of the English, which had forced them to fall back to 
Montreal ; nor had the fleet under Phips yet arrived in sight. 
Taking advantage of this double discomfiture, Frontenac has- 
tened to the Castle of St. Louis, " the post of honor ; " the 
militia of Three Rivers and of the neighboring settlements 

' Mather, Life of Phips. 

18 



138 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

were mustered into service, and M. de Ramsey and INI. de 
Calli^res were j)laced in command.^ 

Before his arrival, Major Provost, tlie commandant at 
Quebec, had prepfired for the defence of the town. The 
Castle of St. Louis " was, by its natural position, almost im- 
pregnable ; but for further security, lines of palisades, armed 
with small batteries, were formed round the crown of the 
lofty headland environing the town ; the gates were barri- 
caded with beams of timber, of massive size, and casks filled 
with earth ; cannon were mounted at every advantageous 
position ; and a large windmill of solid masonry was filled up 
as a cavalier. The lower town was protected by two bat- 
teries, each of three guns ; and the streets leading up the 
steep, rocky face of the height were embarrassed with in- 
trenchments and rows of chevaux-de-frise." 

On the morning of the 5th of October, the approach of 
the English fleet was discovered. It was just rounding the 
headland of Point Levi, on the south shore of the St. Law- 
rence. Ascending stealthily, the vessels lowered their sails, 
and dropped anchor near the small village of Beaufort. 
Early the next day. Sir William Phips, elated by his pre- 
vious successes, despatched a messenger to the French gen- 
eral, demanding an unconditional surrender, in the name of 
King William. " Your answer positive in an hour, by your 
own trumpet, with the return of mine, is required upon the 
peril that will ensue," — such were the closing words of the 
summons. The messenger was conducted blindfolded, through 
the town, and finally brought into the presence of Frontenac 
and others of his staff. " Read your message," said the aged 
governor. The English officer obeyed ; and having ended, 
he took out his watch, saying, "It is now ten o'clock ; I 

* Charlevoix, iii. 87. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 139 

await your answer for one hour." Amid a burst of indigna- 
tion, Frontenac exclaimed, " I know not King William ; 
but I know that the Prince of Orange is a usurper, who 
has violated the most sacred rights of blood and of religion. 
He has destroyed the laws and privileges of the kingdom, and 
overthrown the English church ; and the divine justice will 
one day punish him for his crimes.' As to your chief, say 
that I' will answer him at the cannon's mouth." With these 
words the conference ended ; and the messenger returned in 
haste to the fleet.^ 

At noon on the 8th, thirteen hundred men were embarked 
in the boats of the squadron, under the command of Major 
Walley. At La Canardi^re they effected a landing ; and 
whilst the main army was forming along the shore, four com- 
panies pushed forward towards the town. On a sudden a 
terrific volley was poured upon them by a force of Canadians, 
who had posted themselves among the rocks and bushes. 
Confusion ensued, followed by a speedy rallying of the troops. 
With his whole army in line. Major Walley advanced to the 
St. Charles, where he quartered for the night. The same 
evening four vessels of the squadron having pushed up the 
river and anchored before the town, commenced firing ; at 
the same time they received a tremendous response from the 
numerous guns of the fortress. At daybreak the attack was 
renewed ; " the black muzzles of the cannon thrust from the 
bastions of the castle poured forth incessant volleys, while 
the guns of the ships, though constantly plied, made little 
impression. By noon, fully satisfied that the contest was 
hopeless, the assailants weighed anchor, and with the reced- 
ing tide floated their crippled vessels out of the reach of the 
enemy's fire, but not without the loss of the flag of the rear 

' Charlevoix, iii. 117, seq. Mather, Life of Pliips. 



140 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

admiral, which was shot away, and, as it drifted towards the 
shore, was seized by a Canadian, who swam out into the 
stream, and brought it in triumph to the castle, where for 
many years it was hung up as a trophy in the church of 
Quebec." 

About noon on the 9th, the troops under Major Walley 
guided by a band of Iroquois Indians, marched against 
the stronghold on the left bank of the St. Charles. While 
on the way they were attacked by two hundred Canadians 
under the commands of De Longeuil and St. Helene, and 
forced to fall back. In a second attack Walley met with 
better success, and compelled his enemy to retreat. On the 
10th another advance was made against the breastworks ; 
but in the attempt to dislodge the enemy, the English 
received a terrible defeat, and, being utterly discouraged, re- 
embarked in their vessels, and returned home. Nine of these 
vessels were wrecked among the shoals of the St. Lawrence.^ 

The arrival of Sir William Phips and the remnant of his 
command in Boston, in November, spread gloom over the 
community. A series of misfortunes following King Philip's 
war had impoverished the treasury ; and everybody was 
downhearted and plunged in deep despair. " Considering 
the present poverty of the country, and, through scarcity of 
money, the want of an adequate measure of commerce," 
issues of bills of credit were authorized " to be in value equal 
to money, and accepted in all public payments." This was 
the first paper currency put forth in New England. Mean- 
while in Quebec there were great rejoicings over the repulse 
of the English ; and with a proud heart the gallant Frontenac 
penned the despatch which informed his master of the victory 
which had been achieved. To commemorate the same, a 

» Hutchinson, i. 352-356. 2 M. H. Coll., iu. 25G-260. 




HANNAH DUSTOM AT THE MASSACRE. 



Upon this spot (the island of Contoocook, N.H.) stands a monument erected to the memory 
of Hannah Diiston, through the efforts of Col. Robert B. Caverly, poet and historian. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 141 

medal was struck off, and a church, dedicated to "Notre 
Dame des Victoires," was built in the lower part of the 
town. 

The Indians, spurred onward by the French, now began 
to commit depredations. In the District of Maine, a war with 
the savages was carried on through the last ten years of the 
seventeenth centmy. At Groton, Billerica, Newbury, Lan- 
caster, Andover, Haverhill, and other places nearer Boston, 
there were frequent scenes of midnight incendiarism ; and 
" the murder and scalping of the inhabitants of these peaceful 
villages, and the captivity of helpless women and children," 
have been narrated by a French writer, as " actions that 
were brave and beautiful." ^ The story of a noble wife and 
mother, although often told elsewhere, must be repeated 
in this connection. During an incursion made upon Haver- 
hill, in 1697, the Indians surrounded the house of Hannah 
Dustin. Her husband at the time was at work in the fields, 
and reached the house too late to defend his wife, who was 
ill in bed from a recent confinement, and had her young babe 
with her. He collected seven of his children, sent them run- 
ning along the road, and with his gun in hand, repelled 
the assault, now cheering on the innocent group of little 
ones, till all reached a shelter. Meanwhile the savages 
burned the house, dashed the infant against a tree, and com- 
pelled Mrs. Dustin and her nurse to go with them. After 
weary marches through the forests, the party found them- 
selves just above Concord, when the prisoners were told that 
they would be forced to run a gantlet as soon as they should 
reach the village. That night Mrs. Dustin, with her nurse 
and a young English boy from Worcester, planned escape. 
" Where would you strike," said the boy to his Indian mas- 

' Charlevoix, iii. 318, seq. 



142 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ter, " to kill instantly?" The Indian told him how and 
where. While all, save the prisoners, were asleep, two 
women and a boy, each with a tomahawk in hand, put an 
end to ten of the twelve sleepers, scalped them, and bearing 
their trophies with them, dropped down the river in a bark 
canoe to Haverhill, where they astonished their fi'iends by 
their escape and " filled the land with wonder at their suc- 
cessful daring." ^ 

In 1692 another expedition was projected into Canada. 
The tidings arrived from England that it had " pleased the 
king, out of his great goodness, and disposition for the wel- 
fare of all his subjects, to send a considerable strength of 
ships and men into the West Indies, and to direct Sir Francis 
Wheeler, the admiral, to sail to New England from the 
Caribbee Islands, so as to be there by the last of May, or the 
middle of June at farthest, with a strength sufficient to over- 
come the enemy, if joined and seconded by the forces of 
New England." " There can never," continues the secre- 
tary's letter, " be such an occasion for the people of New 
England to show their zeal for their religion and love to 
their king and country. His majesty has taken care, besides 
the ships of war, to send to you a thousand soldiers, if their 
number be not diminished by their service in the West In- 
dies, under a commander who has looked the same enemy in 
the face, and will show an example worthy to be followed. 
Sir William Phips, I suppose, will be at the head of the New 
England volunteers, and will readily acquiesce, according to 
the rules of war, in leaving the chief command, as his majesty 
has determined it." ^ When the fleet spoken of in this royal 
communication arrived at Nantasket from .the West Indies, 
in June, 1603, it had on board just eight hundred sailors and 

' Mirick, Hist, of Haverhill, 8G, seq. ^ Hutchinson, ii. 70. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 143 

six hundred soldiers, or less than a third of its original equip- 
ment ! It is enough to say that the expedition into Canada 
was, therefore, wholly abandoned for the present. 

Meanwhile the French bethought themselves of recovering 
Acadia, which had fallen into the hands of the English four 
years before. The territory was regained in 1692 ; and in the 
late summer of 1696 Peraaquid was taken by the combined 
forces of D'Iberville and Castine. By this proceeding the 
French dominion was extended into the heart of Maine, and 
the English relinquished all their former claims in the north. 
In 1697 the French projected an invasion of New England ; 
but their schemes were not destined to succeed, and they 
returned home without having put their project even to a 
test. By the peace of Ryswick, September 20, 1697, King 
William's War, so called, was brought to a temporary sus- 
pension. This peace " was a victory of the spirit of reform ; 
for Louis XIV., with James II. at his court, recognized ■ the 
revolutionary sovereign of England, and the encroachments 
of France on the German empire were restrained. In Amer- 
ica, France retained all Hudson's Bay, and all the places of 
which she was in possession at the beginning of the war ; in 
other words, with the exception of the eastern moiety of 
Newfoundland, France retained the whole coast and adjacent 
islands from Maine to beyond Labrador and Hudson's Bay, 
besides Canada and the valley of the Mississippi. On the 
east, England claimed to the St. Croix, and France to the 
Kennebec ; and-, had peace continued, the St. George would 
have been adopted as a compromise." ^ 

After a four years' truce, the war began again in 1702. 
The French and the English appeared to be no other than 
sworn and natural enemies. Each ached to get possession 

> Bancroft, iii. 192. Palfrey, Hist, of New England, iv. 168. 



144 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of the other's territory, and each as greedily accused the 
other of trespass. In view of an approaching conflict, the 
French used all their skill to win the Indians into their con- 
fidence. They unceasingly encouraged them to deeds of 
blood and shame, and fairly gloried in all designs of treach- 
ery. In June, 1703, a congress of chiefs from the Penobscot 
to the Merrimack met Governor Dudley at Casco. "The 
sun," said they, " is not more distant from the earth than 
are our thoughts from war ; " and then and there they made 
pledge of friendship, and sealed it with wampum. Scarcely 
six weeks had passed before the fierce Abenakis burst upon 
every house and garrison in that region, sparing " neither 
the milk-white brows of the ancient nor the mournful cries 
of tender infants." Like an avalanche they overwhelmed 
the country, spreading devastation and ruin wheresoever 
they went. 

Ift February, 1704, while the picket watch was sleeping, 
and the snow had drifted over the palisades, a party of three 
hundred French and Indians, under the command of Major 
Hertel de Rouville, made an attack on Deerfield, one of the 
most beautiful of the western villages. Not unexpectedly 
had they come ; for the peaceful inhabitants had been warned 
of impending danger by Colonel Schuyler, of New York, 
and the Mohawks. Since this warning there was " not a 
night but the sentinel was abroad ; not a mother lulled her 
infant to rest but knew that before morning the tomahawk 
might crush its feeble skull." The garrison was easily sur- 
prised, and amid wild war-whoops which rent the air asunder, 
a terrible scene of slaughter, pillage, and conflagration ensued, 
which lasted for three hours. During the carnage a party 
broke into the house of Mr. Williams, the minister. He, 
his wife, and five of his children were seized ; the house 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 145 

itself was plundered, and two children and a negro woman 
were cruelly massacred. Like scenes were perpetrated in 
other parts of the village. Only one house and the church 
escaped destruction, the former being nobly guarded by 
seven colonists, whose wives were casting bullets for their 
guns. Forty-seven of the English were killed, and one hun- 
dred and eighty were led away prisoners ; a few escaped, and 
bore the tidings of evil to other towns. 

When the sun was an hour high, the murderous villains 
took their departure. Who can picture the sufferings of 
the unhappy prisoners ? Who could count the bloody foot- 
prints in the snow ? Mrs. Eunice Williams, the wife of the 
minister, had not forgotten her Bible ; and at night, when 
the party paused to rest, the savages permitted the captives 
to read to them. Having but recently recovered from the 
ills of confinement, the good woman, exposed to the hard- 
ships of her winter journey, soon discovered that her strength 
was beginning to fail. To her husband, who reminded her 
of the " house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," 
she "justified God in what had happened." Mindful of the 
dear ones whom she left behind, and commending them, 
under God, to their father's care, she fell in the Leyden 
Gorge a victim to the blow of a tomahawk. " She rests in 
peace," said her husband, "and joy unspeakable and full 
of glory." On the first Sunday of their march north, Mr. 
Williams preached from the text, " My virgins and my 
young men are gone into captivity." Having arrived in 
Canada, the prisoners were forced to attend Roman Catholic 
services, and to Mr. Williams was promised freedom and a 
pension if he would join the Roman Catholic church. He 
sternly refused ; but twenty-eight of his associates assented, 
" whence kindred blood now rattles bad French in Canada or 
19 



146 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

sputters Indian in the north and north-west," The minister's 
daughter Eunice, a child of but seven 3-ears of age, was 
adopted into the village of the Praying Indians, near Mont- 
real ; she became a Catholic, and afterwards the wife of a 
Cabnewaga chief; and when, after long years, she revisited 
Deerfield and her friends, who had been redeemed from 
captivity, not one iota of regard for the customs of civilized 
life, or for the tenets of the Puritan church, remained in her 
heart. " In spite of a day of fast of a whole village, which 
assembled to pray for her deliverance, she returned to the 
fires of her own wigwam, and to the love of her own 
Mohawk children." 1 

On the last of July, the same year, a party of four hundred 
French and Indians fell upon Lancaster, and burned the 
meeting-house and several dwellings. During this and the 
two following years, other towns likewise suffered. " There 
is no tale to tell of battles like those of Blenheim or of 
Ramillies, but only one sad narrative of novel dangers and 
sorrov/s. In the following years the Indians stealthily ap- 
proached towns in the heart of Massachusetts, as well as 
along the coast, and on the southern and western frontiers. 
Children, as they gambolled on the beach ; reapers, as they 
gathered the harvest ; mowers, as they rested from using 
the scythe ; mothers, as they busied themselves about the 
household, — were victims to an enemy who disappeared 
the moment a blow was struck, and' who was ever present 
where a garrison or a family ceased its vigilance." ^ 

' Williams, Ecdeemed Captive, p. 27, seq. Palfrey, Hist. iv. 262, seq. 
Bancroft, iii. 214. Rev. Eleazer Williams, the pretended Dauphin of France, 
and Bourbon Prince Royal, who made such a sensation some years ago, was 
Eunice's grandson. 

* Bancroft, iii. 214. Penhallow, 28. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 147 

In 1708 the village of Haverhill, overlooking the waters 
of the Merrimack, contained, besides a new meeting-house, 
about thirty log-built cottages. Like other New England 
villages, it was mostly peopled by honest. God-fearing 
farmers, whose sole wealth lay in the blooming fields and 
the towering forests. At the close of a summer's day, the 
29th of August, whilst the inhabitants were resting from 
their wonted labors, and were wholly unconscious of danger, 
the bloodthirsty Rouville, with his followers, drew near. At 
daybreak he addressed his men, and impiously called upon 
God to sanction his deed. The crack of the rifle was fol- 
lowed by the war-whoop, and scenes of bloodshed ensued. 
Among the first to fall was Benjamin Rolfe, the minister ; 
an Indian tomahawk was plunged deep into the head of his 
wife, and her innocent babe, snatched from her dying grasp, 
was dashed against a stone. Thomas Hartshorne and two 
of his sons were shot. John Johnston and his wife fell side 
by side, and after the death of the latter, her babe was found 
clinging to her breast. Other unfortunates were dealt with 
in a similar manner. At the first fire Samuel Wainwright 
fell to the ground. His wife, Mary, unbarred the doors, and 
invited the savages into the house; and "when they de- 
manded money, she retired as if to bring it, and gathering up 
all the children save one," she made good her escape. On 
this memorable day forty of the inhabitants found their 
death. Only a few, shielded by the gallantry of the intreiDid 
Davis and others from Salem, and of Samuel Ayer, — a name 
never to be forgotten in the village annals, — succeeded in 
escaping from the general massacre. As the sun disappeared 
in the west, the awful tragedy was over. The bodies of the 
fallen were mournfully interred. An ancient mound still 
marks their resting-place, and a moss-grown stone, with 



148 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

its rude epitaph, stands by the grave of Rolfe and his 
family.^ 

What wonder is it that these sorrowful events inspired 
the deepest hate towards the French and their savage aUies ? 
" I hold it my duty towards God and my neighbors," wrote 
Peter Schujder to the Marquis of Vaudreuil, " to prevent, 
if possible, these barbarous and heathen cruelties. My heart 
swells with indignation when I think that a war between 
Christian princes, bound to the exactest laws of honor 
and generosity, which their noble ancestors have illustrated 
by brilliant examples, is degenerating into a savage and 
boundless butchery. These are not the methods for termi- 
nating the war. Would that all the world thought with, me 
on this subject." 

Meanwhile the encroachments of the French increased 
daily. Whilst their general was planning to seize and defend 
the whole country in the regions of the Kennebec, Massa- 
chusetts was urged to rebuild the fort at Pemaquid. The 
importance of Pemaquid, as a check to French aggression, 
was very great, inasmuch as it completely covered the ap- 
proaches to the Kennebec, the Sheepscot, Damariscotta, and 
Pemaquid Rivers. Being at the doors, it was also " a stand- 
ing menace against the Indian allies of the French, with a 
garrison ready to launch upon their villages, or intercept 
the advance of war parties towards the New England settle- 
ments. Its presence exasperated the Abenakis, on whose 
territory it was, beyond measure ; the French found them 
ever ready to second projects for its destruction." ^ The 
General Court of Massachusetts failed to see the importance 

' Hutchinson, ii. 157. Mirich, Hist, of Haverhill, 117-134. Bancroft, iii. 
215, seq. Penhallow, 47. Comp. Charlevoix, ii. 325-6. 
* Charlevoix, New France, 239. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 149 

of maintaining the stronghold, and contended that the funds 
of the government were needed for other purposes. In 
1709 England prepared to send a fleet to America for the 
purpose of "punishing the audacity and insolence of the 
French ; " and great efforts were made in New England to 
organize and equip a new expedition against Canada. The 
fleet failed to arrive, however ; the troops which had been 
raised were as hastily discharged ; and thus a new scheme 
of conquest, through the negligence of England, was fated 
to prove an abortion. The energies that had been kindled 
into life were wasted in inactive expectation. 

In the following year a final expedition against the French 
proved successful. At the instance of Francis Nicholson, 
lieutenant governor of New York, and under his immediate 
command, six English vessels, joined by thirty of New Eng- 
land and four New England regiments, two of which were 
commanded by Sir Charles Hobby and Colonel Tailer of 
Massachusetts, one by Colonel Walton of New Hampshire, 
and the fourth by Colonel Whiting of Connecticut, sailed 
for Acadia. On the 24th of September, after a voyage of 
six days, the fleet anchored before Port Royal. Without 
delay the troops were lauded, and preparations were made 
' for attacking the fortress. At this time, Subercase, the 
French governor, had control of the place ; but his garrison, 
numbering only two hundred and fifty men, was both weak 
and insubordinate. Mortar batteries were erected, and for 
three or four days the siege continued ; so steadily was the fire 
from the ramparts kept up, that the garrison was on the verge 
of starvation. At length Subercase sent a flag of truce, with 
a request that the ladies in the fort might be permitted to find 
shelter in the English camp. The request was granted ; and 
the storming recommenced. On the 1st of October, Subercase 



150 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

received a summons to surrender ; a cessation was agreed 
upon ; the terms of capitulation were arranged, and on the 5th, 
the garrison, now reduced by over a hundred men, marched 
out with the honors of war, and Port Royal became the spoil 
of the victors. In honor of the queen the name of the place 
was changed to Annapolis. Having thus made himself 
master of Acadia, and left a garrison at the fort under the 
command of Colonel Vetch, General Nicholson returned 
with his fleet and army to Boston.^ 

As soon as possible Nicholson hastened to England to bear 
the tidings of his success, and to urge the conquest of Can- 
ada. The French, it was said, were making dangerous prog- 
ress in the west, and it was feared that in consequence the 
commercial interests of the colonies might suffer. " It is 
well known " — such are the words in the memorial ad- 
dressed to the queen — "that the French can go by water 
from Quebec to Montreal. From thence they can do the 
like, through rivers and lakes, at the back of all your 
majesty's plantations on this continent as far as Carolina ; 
and in this large tract of country live several nations of 
Indians, who are vastly numerous. Among those they con- 
stantly send emissaries and priests, with toys and trifles, to 
insinuate themselves into their favor. Afterwards they send 
traders, then soldiers, and at last build forts among them ; 
and the garrisons are encouraged to intermarry, cohabit, and 
incorporate among them ; and it may easily be concluded 
that, upon a peace, many of the disbanded soldiers will be 
sent thither for that purpose." ^ Nicholson succeeded in ob- 
taining his request. 

A fleet comprising fifteen ships of war and forty trans- 
ports, under the command of Sir Hovenden Walker, seven 

' Hutchinson, ii. 164-1G7, Charlevoix, &c. * Bancroft, iii. 219. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 151 

regiments of veterans, from Marlborough's army, under 
General Hill, and six hundred marines, were ordered to sail 
from England. At the same time the governments of New- 
England, New York, the Jerseys, and Pennsylvania were 
ordered to raise the quotas assigned to them, with a ten 
Aveeks' supply of provisions. On the 25th of June, 1711, 
the fleet arrived at Boston ; and from this time onward to 
the last of July, preparations were going on for a departure. 
As there was a great lack of money wherewith to purchase 
provisions, the General Court of the province determined to 
issue forty thousand pounds in bills of credit, " to be loaned 
to merchants and others for the term of two years, for the 
purchase of bills of exchange on the treasury of England." 
In the mean time, troops from Connecticut, New York, and 
New Jersey, and a band of about six hundred Iroquois, 
assembled at Albany, in readiness to march against Mont- 
real, and only waiting to receive tidings of the departure 
of the fleet. 

But no tidings of this nature arrived. All the troubles 
incident to the raising and quartering of a large force sud- 
denly upon the country began to show themselves ; and it 
soon became manifest that the fleet could no longer remain 
at Boston without causing the whole design to end in dis- 
grace. On the 30th of July, the English squadron, now 
increased to eighty vessels, left Boston. Towards the last 
of August it began to ascend the St. Lawrence. While on 
the voyage Admiral Walker was contriving how he should 
secure his vessels during the winter at Quebec. On the 
evening of the 22d, a dense fog arose, which completely 
blinded the ships' course. " The pilots, with one accord, 
advised that the fleet should lie to, with the heads of the 
vessels to the southward : this was done, and even so the 



152 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

vessels were carried towards the northern shore. Just as 
Walker was going to bed, the captain of his ship came down 
to say that land could be seen ; and without going on deck, 
the admiral wantonly ordered the ships to head to the 
north. There was on the quarter-deck a man of sense — 
Goddard, a captain in the land service ; he rushed to the 
cabin in great haste, and importuned the admiral at least 'to 
come on deck ; but the self-willed man laughed at his fears, 
and refused. A second time Goddard returned. ' For the 
Lord's sake come on deck,' cried he, ' or we shall certainly 
be lost ; I see breakers all around us ! ' — ' Putting on my 
gown and slippers,' writes Walker, ' and coming upon deck, 
I found what he told me to be true.' Even then the blind 
admiral shouted, 'I see no land to the leeward ! ' but the 
moon, breaking through the mists, gave him the lie." ^ 

A strong breeze was blowing from the east, and slowly, 
but surely, the fleet was forced among the Egg Islands. The 
frigates were saved from the shoals ; but when morning 
disclosed the work of a single night, it was found that eight 
transports had been wrecked, and " eight hundred and eighty- 
four brave fellows, who had passed scathless through the 
sanguinary battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenarde, 
perished miserably on the desolate shores of the St. Law- 
rence." A council of war was at once convened, and it 
was voted unanimously that it was impossible to proceed. 
Thus the enterprise was abandoned without striking a single 
blow. "Had we arrived safe at Quebec," wrote Admiral 
Walker, " ten or twelve thousand men must have been 
left to perish of cold and hunger ; by the loss of a part, 
Providence saved all the rest."^ Undoubtedly he con- 
sidered his " successful retreat " equal to a glorious vic- 

' Bancroft, iii. 223. * Walker's Journal, 72, seq. 



THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 153 

tor}^ On the other hand, " the French colony," writes 
Charlevoix, " could not but recognize a Providence which 
watched singularly over its preservation, and which, not 
satisfied with rescuing it from the greatest danger it had yet 
run, had enriched it with the spoils of an enemy whom it 
had not had the pains to conquer ; hence they rendered Him 
most heartfelt thanks." ^ 

Cast down by this failure, which " affected the whole 
country seven years after," the colonists abandoned all hopes 
of the reduction of Canada, firmly believing that "Provi- 
dence never designed the whole northern continent of 
America to be under the dominion of one nation." But 
the time for the fulfilment of these things had not yet 
come. 

» Charlevoix, ii. 357, seq.. Penliallow, 62-67. 

20 



154 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 

In order clearly to understand the most tragic episode in 
our history, we must seek to carry ourselves back to the state 
of the colony of Massachusetts, one hundred and eighty 
odd years ago. The persecutions which our ancestors had 
undergone in the Old World, and the privations which they 
were forced to endure soon after their arrival in the New, 
imparted a solemn and gloomy turn to their dispositions 
and associations, which was transmitted to their children 
and was aggravated by the peculiar circumstances of the 
period. In an age of superstition, the imagination had 
reached a monstrous growth. In a wilderness where neither 
civilization nor cultivation prevailed, where wild beasts and 
Indians roaming about with freedom were objects alwa3^s to 
be feared, the Puritan mind suffered a want of confidence 
and compassion, and gave origin to a rooted sympathy of 
horror and hostility. Between the scattered villages in the 
colony there was but little communication ; the people, 
having recently lost their charter, were kept in a state of 
anxiety respecting their future political destinies ; the sea- 
coast was infested with hostile privateers ; commerce was 
stagnated, and almost every person in office had become 
the victim of jealousies, animosities, and discontent. At 
such a time, amid such circumstances, and when all minds 
were startled and confounded by the prevalence of prophe- 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 155 

cies and forebodings of dismal events, the common belief 
arose that the Evil Spirit himself was let loose, and was 
permitted to descend upon the colonists with unexampled 
fury. Our fathers even entertained the opinion that certain 
of their number had made an actual compact with Satan, 
by which it was agreed that they should become his faith- 
ful subjects, and do what they could to promote his cause. 
Thus a witch, or wizard, the former term being applied 
to the female and the latter to the male members of 
the community, was considered in the light of a person 
who " transferred allegiance and worship from God to the 
devil." 1 

The earliest trial for witchcraft in IVIassachusetts occurred 
in 1648, when Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, was " in- 
dicted and found guilty of witchcraft, and hanged for it." ^ 
During a period of forty years there were similar instances 
in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The evidences of be- 
witchment were various. " Sometimes they would be deaf, 
then dumb, then blind ; and sometimes all these disorders 
together would come upon them. Their tongues would 
be drawn down their throats, then pulled out upon their 
chins. Their jaws, necks, shoulders, elbows, and all their 
joints would appear to be dislocated, and they would make 
most piteous outcries of burnings, of being cut with knives, 
beat, &c., and the marks of wounds were afterwards to be 
seen." All the divines of the period labored hard to prove 
that these were the effects of familiarity with the devil. 
" So violent was the popular prejudice against every appear- 
ance of witchcraft, that it was deemed meritorious to de- 
nounce all that gave the least reason for suspicion. Every 
child and gossip was prepared to recognize a witch, and 

' Upham's Lect. on Witch., 9-19. * Winthrop, ii. 326. 



156 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

no one could be certain of personal safety. As the infatua- 
tion increased, many of the most reputable females,- and 
several males also, were apprehended and committed to 
prison. There is good reason to believe that, in some in- 
stances, the vicious and abandoned availed themselves of 
opportunities of gratifying their corrupt passions of envy, 
malice, and revenge." ^ 

For some years previous to 1692, a controversy respecting 
the settlement of a minister had subsisted in Salem. Sev- 
eral of the most influential persons, " who had been 
considered as the fathers and governors of the town for 
half a century," had recently been removed by death. 
Enough bigoted and superstitious believers in the doctrine 
of witchcraft remained to assert that these misfortunes were, 
wholly caused by satanic influence, and by their own opinions 
and arguments they only aggravated the general prejudice 
and fanaticism. " The spark fell upon inflammable mat- 
ter," says Dr. Bentley, " and, behold, how great a matter a 
little fire kindleth." 2 

In the month of February, 1692, two girls, a daughter 
and a niece of the Rev. Mr. Parris, a minister of Salem 
Village,^ aged nine and twelve years respectively, began to 
act " in a strange and unusual manner." They would 
utter loud and piteous cries, creep into holes, hide under 
benches, and put themselves into odd postures. The physi- 
cians pronounced them bewitched. Ere long other girls 
in the neighborhood were afflicted in a like manner ; and 
Mr. Parris, having invited all the ministers to his house to 
unite with him in solemn religious services, the children 
became more violent, and " cried out upon," or accused, 

1 Thatcher, Essay, 98. ' Now North Danvers. 

2 Hist, of Salem, in M. H. Coll. 



THE IVITCHCkAFT DELUSION. I57 

Tituba, an Indian woman attached to the family, of having 
bewitched them. Tituba denied that she was herself a 
witch, but acknowledged that she had learned how to 
discover one. Such a confession as this was enough to 
satisfy the credulity of her accusers. Next the children 
complained of Sarah Good and of Sarah Osborn, the one a 
melancholy and distracted woman, and the other an old 
bed-ridden woman ; and these were arrested and thrown into 
prison. A few weeks later, two other women, of most ex- 
cellent character, Corey and Nurse, were likewise accused 
and put in irons. The husband of Tituba, under the influ- 
ence of fear, charged other persons with the same crime ; 
and Parris proclaimed that " the devil hath been raised 
among us, and his rage is vehement and terrible, and when 
he shall be silenced the Lord only knows." ^ 

The number of the accused dail}'- multiplied. The ministers 
from the pulpits preached inflammatory sermons, and thus 
kindled popular indignation into a blaze. One of the princi- 
pal actors in this whole affair was Cotton Mather, who as- 
pired to be considered as the great champion of the church, 
and the most successful combatant against the prince of the 
power of the air. Folly seems to have reduced his sobriety 
of judgment, and to have made him a dupe to his own 
credulity. He adopted the doctrine of demons, wrote much 
on the subject of witchcraft, and repeatedly endeavored to 
get up a delusion of the kind in Boston. Indeed, there 
are strong reasons for supposing that he was instrumental 
in causing the delusion in Salem. The burden of blame 
of the terrible tragedy of his time rests largely upon him. 
Others may have been culpable, and have done much to foster 
the delusion ; and the people themselves were, undoubtedly, 

' Calef, in Fowler's Salem Witchcraft. 



158. HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

in perfect concurrence with the modes of thinking in the 
times in which they lived. Mather was learned, and, as an 
historian, bequeathed rich and important matter to pos- 
terity^ : for so doing, this countr}^ owes him a debt of grati- 
tude. On the other hand, his mind was prone to bigotry 
and dogmatism in religion, his ways were exceedingly art- 
ful and cunning, and, in his attempts to shift the blame of 
folly upon others, and at the same time to keep alive stu- 
pidity and superstition in the minds of the people, he was 
not outdone even by a Jesuit. The manner in which he 
endeavored to escape the odium that attached to the prose- 
cutions is characteristic of the man. " I do humbly but 
freely affirm," he says, " that there is not a man living 
in this world who has been more desirous than the poor 
man I, to shelter my neighbors from the inconveniencies of 
spectral outcries ; yea, I am very jealous I have done so much 
that way as to sin in what I have done ; such have been the 
cowardice and fearlessness, whereunto my regard unto the 
dissatisfaction of other people has precipitated me. I know 
a man in the world, who has thought he has been able to 
convict some such witches as ought to die ; but his respect 
unto the public peace has caused him rather to try whether 
he could not renew them by repentance." ^ 

Before the end of March the number of the afflicted 
had increased to ten ; and as " Satan's assaults " were not 
suffered to subside for the want of support, six of the 
magistrates were convened at Salem, and formal proceedings 
were instituted.^ On this occasion the ministers were pres- 

' Mather, Wonders of the Invisible World, in Fowler. 

"^ "Let us walk on tlirough Essex Street, unheeding the throng, unmindful 
of tlie statelier buildings, until we approach an ancient landmark at the 
corner of North Street. Itc claims on our attention are twofold. It is said 
to have been the dwelling of Koger Williams, for whom Southey, when 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 159 

ent, and Parris was " conspicuous for the officiousness of 
his zeal." From his own record, still extant, it appears 
that the latter was neitlier an impartial advocate nor an un- 
biassed judge. The door being once opened, the number of 
the prisoners rapidly increased. The most effectual way to 
escape accusation was to become an accuser. More than 
a hundred women, in the towns of Salem, Beverly, Andover, 
Billerica, &c., were committed to jail. Goodwife Corey, 
being apprehended, was brought in for trial. In the court- 
room several witnesses were present who professed to have 
been bewitched by her, and the " most of them accused 
her of biting, pinching, and strangling, and said that they 
did, in their fits, see her likeness coming to them and bring- 
ing a book for them to sign." The woman could only deny 
these charges, and was, therefore, remanded to jail. Shortly 
afterwards a negro slave was examined. " Are you a 
witch ? " inquired the magistrate. " Candy no witch in 
her country. Candy's mother no witch. Candy no witch, 
Barbadoes. This country, mistress give Candy witch." 
"■Did your mistress make you a witch in this country?" 
" Yes, in this country, mistress give Candy witch." " What 
did your mistress do to make you a witch?" "Mistress 

reminded that Wales had been more famous for mutton than great men, 
avowed he had a sincere respect; yet it is even more celebrated as the scene 
of examinations during the Reign of Terror in 1G92. In appearance the origi- 
nal house might have been transplanted out of old London. Its peaked 
gables, with pine-apples carved in wood surmounting, its latticed windows, 
and colossal chimney, put it unmistakably in the age of ruffs, Spanish 
cloaks, and long rapiers. It has long been divested of its antique Eng- 
lish character, now appearing no more than a reminiscence of its former 
self. However, from a recessed area at the back, its narrow casements and 
excrescent stairways are yet to be seen. A massive frame, filled between 
with brick, plastered with clay, with the help of its tower-like cliininey, has 
stood immovable against the assaults of time. Such houses — and their 
number is not large — rei^resent the original forest that stood on the site 
of ancient Salem." ■^ Drake, Nooks and Corners of the N. E. poast, 222. 



160 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

bring book, and pen, and ink, make Candy write in it." 
Mrs. Haskins, the mistress, being brought in, could save 
her life only by making a confession. 

The story of Mrs. Carey, of Charlestown, is thus told by 
her husband : " Having for some days heard that my wife 
was accused of witchcraft, and being much disturbed at 
it, we went to Salem by advice to see if the afflicted knew 
her. The prisoners were called in before the justices, singly, 
and as they entered were cried out against by the afflicted 
girls. The prisoners were placed about seven or eight feet 
from the justices, and the accusers between the justices and 
the prisoners. The prisoners were oAlered to stand directly 
before the justices, with an officer appointed to hold each 
hand lest they should therewith afflict the girls ; and the 
prisoners' eyes must be constantly fixed on the justices ; 
for if they looked on the afflicted, they would either fall 
into these fits, or cry out of being hurt by them : after 
examination of the prisoners, who it was that afflicted these 
girls, &e., they put them upon saying the Lord's Prayer as 
a trial of their guilt. When the afflicted seemed to be 
out of their fits, they would look steadfastly on some one 
person, and not speak, and then the justices said they were 
struck dumb ; and after a little time they would speak again ; 
then the justices said to the accusers, Which of you will 
go and touch the prisoner at the bar ? Then the most 
courageous would venture, but before they made three steps 
would fall on the floor as if in a fit. The justices then 
ordered that they should be taken up and carried to the 
prisoner, that she might touch them; and as soon as this 
was done the justices would say they are all well, before 
I could discern any alteration ; but the justices seemed to 
understand the manner of the strange juggle. Two of the 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 161 

accusers, who pretended to be bewitched, were Abigail Wil- 
liams, niece of Mr. Parris, aged eleven or twelve years, 
and Indian John, the husband of Tituba, who was now 
in jail. This fellow had himself been accused of witchcraft, 
but had now become an accuser for his own safety. He 
showed several old scars, which he said were the eifects 
of witchcraft, but more likely of the lash. On inquiry 
who they would accuse as the cause of their sufferings, they 
cried out Carey ; and immediately a warrant was sent by 
the justices to bring my wife before them. Her chief ac- 
cusers were two girls ; my wife declared to the justices that 
she never had any knowledge of them before that day. 

" She was obliged to stand with her arms extended. I re- 
quested that I might hold one of her hands, but it was 
denied me. She then desired that I would wipe the tears 
and the sweat from her face, and that she might lean her- 
self on me, as she was faint ; but Justice Hathorn said she 
had strength enough to torment those persons, and she 
should have strength enough to stand. I remonstrated 
against such cruel treatment, but was commanded to be 
silent, or I should be turned out of the room. Indian John 
was now called in to be one of the accusers ; he fell down 
and tumbled about like a brute, but said nothing. The jus- 
tices asked the girls who afflicted the Indian ; they answered, 
she (meaning my wife) : the justices ordered her to touch 
him in order to his cure ; but her head must be turned 
another way, lest, instead of curing, she should make him 
worse by looking on him ; her hand was guided to take hold 
of his, but the Indian seized hold of her hand, and pulled 
her down on the floor in a violent manner ; then his hand 
was taken off, and her hand put on his, and the cure was 
quickly wrought. My wife, after being thus cruelly treated, 
21 



162 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

was put into prison, and the jailer was ordered to put irons 
on her legs which weighed about eight pounds. These 
chains, with her other afflictions, soon . produced convulsion 
fits, so that I M^as apprehensive she would have died that 
night. I entreated that the irons might be removed, but 
in vain. I now attended the trials at Salem, and finding 
tliat spectre evidence, together with idle or malicious stories, 
was received against the lives of innocent people, I trembled 
for the fate of my wife, as the same evidence that would 
serve for one would serve for all. In this awful situation, 
I thought myself justifiable in devising some means of es- 
cape ; and this, through the goodness of God, was effected. 
We were pursued as far as Rhode Island, but we reached 
New York in safety, where we were kindly received by 
Governor Fletcher. To speak of the treatment of the pris- 
oners, and the inhumanity shown them at their executions, 
is more than any sober Christian can endure. Those that 
suffered, being many of them church members, and most 
of them of blameless conversation." ^ 

Upon the organization of the new government, the sad 
work of prosecution proceeded with increased violence. Mr. 
Phips, the governor, and Stoughton, the lieutenant gov- 
ernor, owed their elevation, to office to the favor of the 
Mathei-s, and both "had one trait in common" — a regard 
to their private interests. Each fell in with the spirit of 
the age, and sanctioned it by official support. One of the 
first acts of the new administration was the institution of 
a court of Oyer and Terminer ; and in June and July this 
court continued in session at Salem* The officers of this 
court were "William Stoughton, chief judge, Nathaniel Sal- 
tonstall, John Richards, Bartholomew Gedney, Wait Win- 

' Carey's statement in Thatcher, 122, seq. 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 163 

throp, Samuel Sewall, and Peter Sargent. The first experi- 
ment was made on Bridget Bishop, a poor, friendless woman. 
Parris preferred the charges against her, and was himself the 
principal witness. " There was one very strange thing 
more," adds Dr. Mather, after enumerating these charges, 
" with which the court was newly entertained. As this 
"woman was under a guard, and passing by the great and 
spacious meeting-house of Salem, she gave a look towards 
the house, and immediately a demon, invisibly entering 
the meeting-house, tore down a part of it, so that though 
there was no person to be seen there, yet the people, at 
the noise, running in, found a board, which was strongly 
fastened with several nails, transported unto another quarter 
of the house." ^ By the rules of Keeble and Sir Matthew 
Hale, of Baxter and Cotton Mather, Bridget Bishop was 
pronounced a " notorious witch," and on the 10th of June 
she was hanged. The court then adjourned. 

On the 30th the court assembled again, and five pale, 
haggard, despairing women, Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Eliza- 
beth Howe, Susanna Martin, and Rebecca Nurse, were 
brought in for trial. All of them had had a previous hearing, 
and been committed to jail. Mr. Noyes, the minister, urged 
Sarah Good to confess, saying he knew she was a witch, 
and she knew she was a witch. " You are a liar," she 
replied ; " I am no more a witch than you are a wizard." ^ 
At the trial of Susanna Martin, it was proved that one 
John Kembel had promised to purchase a puppy from the 
prisoner, but had, instead, bought one of another person, 
and that Martin was heard to say, " If I live, I will give 

" Mather, in Fowler. Hale, Modest Inquiry, 37. 

* " Mr. Noyes was a learned, a charitable, and a good man, though all the 
devils in hell, and all the possessed in Salem, should assert the contrary." — 
Brattle, in 1 M. H. Coll., v. 64. 



164 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

him puppies enough." To the following piece of evidence 
the court attached great weight : " Within a few days 
after this, Kembel coming out of the woods, there arose 
a little black cloud in the north-west, and Kembel imme- 
diately felt a force upon him, which made him not able 
to avoid running upon the stumps of trees that were be- 
fore him, although he had a broad, plain cartway before 
him ; but though he had his axe on his shoulder to en- 
danger him in his falls, he could not forbear going out 
of his way to tumble over them. When he came below 
the meeting-house, there appeared to him a little thing 
like a puppy of a darkish color, and it shot backwards 
and forwards between his legs. He had the courage to 
use all possible endeavors to cut it with his axe, but he 
could not hit it ; fhe puppy gave a jump from him, and 
WTut, as to him it seemed, into the ground. Going a little 
further, there appeared unto him a black puppy, some- 
what bigger than the first, but as black as a coal. Its 
motions were quicker than those of his axe. It flew at 
his body and at his throat, so over his shoulders one way, 
then over his shoulders another way. His heart now be- 
gan to fail him, and he thought the dog would have torn 
his throat out ; but he recovered himself, and naming the 
name of Jesus Christ, it vanished away at once." 

Rebecca Nurse was universally beloved by her neighbors. 
She was aged and infirm, and at her trial the jur}'- rendered 
a verdict of " not guilty." However, " the honored court 
was pleased to object against the verdict." The jury were 
ordered out again to consider better one expression of the 
prisoner when before the court. They now brought her in 
guilty. After her condemnation, she was taken in chains to 
the meeting-house to be formally excommunicated by Mr. 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 165 

Noyes, and " given to the devil." A few days later the gov- 
ernor, for some reason or other, granted a reprieve ; but 
her deluded persecutor, Parris, both preached and prayed 
against her so successfully that the reprieve was recalled.^ 
On the 19th of July, these five condemned women were 
conducted through the narrow lane, where stood the jail, to 
the bleak summit of Gallows Hill. A crowd has assem- 
bled, and a trained band of musketeers, armed and watch- 
ful, are to bear them company. With tottering steps the 
victims mount the cart ; the guards surround, and all is 
ready. It required a company of men, in that age of 
superstition, to conduct five helpless women to their death. 
Arrived at the scene of execution, silence is imposed upon 
the multitude.. The provost-marshal reads the warrant, 
and the prisoners are pinioned and blindfolded. Five mar- 
tyrs stand upon the gallows, and, in the name of William 
and Mary, they are launched into eternity. " What a 
sad sight it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging 
there ! " says Mr. Noyes, turning toward the lifeless bodies. 
On the 5th of August the court sat again, and four 
men and one woman were sentenced to be executed. Of 
the number was Mr. George Burroughs, a man of the most 
exemplary Christian character. He had received the honors 
of Harvard College in 1670, and at the time of his arrest 
he was the minister of a congregation in Wells, a town 
in Maine. It was alleged against him that he possessed 
superhuman strength, and had been seen to perform almost 
miraculous feats. The prisoner at the bar had little to 
say in refutation of the charges of his accusers. Being 
condemned, in rags he was carried in a cart through the 
streets of Salem to his execution, which took place on 

> M. H. Coll., xxiii. 175. 



166 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the 19th of the same month. "While Mr. Burroughs," 
says a contemporary writer, " was on the ladder, he made 
a speech, for the clearing of his innocency, with such solemn 
and serious expressions as were to the admiration of all 
present; his prayer was so well worded, and uttered with 
such composedness and such fervency of spirit, as was 
very affecting, and drew tears from many, so that it seemed 
to some that the spectators would hinder the execution." 
After his execution, his body was dragged by a rope over 
the ground, and buried among the rocks. This ignominious 
death was the reward bestowed upon an octogenarian life ! 

John Willard was another victim on this fatal day. He 
had been employed to arrest suspected persons, but be- 
coming convinced of the injustice of such proceedings, he 
refused to work longer. The afflicted immediately de- 
nounced him, and, being condemned, he suffered death on 
the gallows. John Proctor and his wife were sentenced 
on the same day. Foreseeing his doom, the former had 
sent a petition, not to the governor and council, but to 
Cotton Mather and the ministers. But all his entreaties 
were vain. The witnesses against his wife, Elizabeth, were 
Indian John and three or four girls. The evidence was 
exceedingly whimsical, as is manifest from the following 
extract : " Elizabeth Proctor, you understand whereof you 
are charged, viz., to be guilty of sundry acts of witch- 
craft ; what say you to it ? Speak the truth, as you will 
answer it before God another day." " I take God in 
heaven to be my witness, that I know nothing of it, no 
more than a child." Her husband was also in court, and 
the girls now began to cry out against him, " What hurts 
you ? " asked the court. " Goodman Proctor, and his wife, 
too." " What do you say, Goodman Proctor, to these 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 167 

things ? " "I know not ; I am entirely innocent." By such 
miserable evidence they were both sentenced to execution. 
Elizabeth Proctor, being with child, was reprieved.^ 

Her own children were among the witnesses against Mar- 
tha Carrier. It was asked her daughter, a child of seven 
years of age, " How long hast thou been a witch? " "Ever 
since I was six years old." "How old are you now?" 
" Near eight years old ; brother Richard says I shall be 
eight years old in November next." " Who made you a 
witch ? " " My mother ; she made me set my hand to a 
book." " How did you set your hand to it ? " "I touched 
it with my fingers ; and the book was red, the paper of it 
was white." The child said she had never seen the black 
man ; the place where she had set her hand to the book 
was in Andrew Foster's pasture, and Elizabeth Johnson, Jr., 
was there. Being asked who was there besides, she an- 
swered, her aunt Toothaker, and her cousin. Being asked 
when it was, she said when she was baptized. " What did 
they promise to give you ? " "A black dog." " Did the 
dog ever come to you?" "No." "But you said you 
saw a cat once ; what did that say to you ? " "It said 
it would tear me in pieces if I would not "set my hand 
to the book." "How did you afflict folks ? " "I pinched 
them." "How did your mother come to you when she was 
in prison ? " " She came like a black cat." " How did 
you know it was your mother ? " " The cat told me so, 
that she was my mother." In concluding his report of the 
trial. Cotton Mather writes, " This rampant hag, Martha Car- 
rier, was the person of whom the confessions of the witches, 
and of her own children among the rest, agreed, that the 
devil had promised her she should be queen of hell." 

' Calef, in Fowler. » 



168 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Margaret Jacobs accused her aged grandfather, and then, 
wounded by her conscience, retracted her confession. " The 
Lord, I hope, in whom I trust, out of the abundance of his 
mercy, will forgive me my false forswearing myself. What 
I said was altogether false against my grandfather and Mr. 
Burroughs, which I did to save my life and to have my 
liberty ; but the Lord charging it to my conscience, made 
me in so much horror, that I could not contain myself 
before I had denied mj'' confession ; choosing rather death 
with a quiet conscience, than to live in such horror. And 
now, may it please your honors, I leave it to your pious 
and judicious discretion, to take pity and compassion on 
my young and tender years, to act and to do with me as 
the Lord and your honors shall see good ; having no friend 
but the Lord to plead my cause, not being guilty in the 
least measure of the crime of witchcraft, nor any other 
sin that deserves death from the hands of man." The 
magistrates refused to credit her confession, and hung her 
grandfather. Thus five more were executed on the 19th of 
August. 

Giles Core}'-, aged about eighty yearSj was brought to trial, 
and, seeing that all were convicted, refused to plead. By an 
old English law, he was condemned to be pressed to death. 
When in the agonies of death the victim thrust out his 
tongue, and the officer pushed it into his mouth with his 
cane. Corey's wife suffered at the gallows, where she made 
an eminent prayer. On the 22d of September, two men 
and six women were executed ; and this was the last exe- 
cution.i Already twenty persons had been cruelly put to 
death. Never, perhaps, was the sacred prediction more 

' Sec the poet Longfellow's tragedy of " Giles Corey, of Salem Farms," 
which is founded on these events. 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 169 

strikingly verified : " From henceforth there shall be five 
in one house divided, three against two, and two against 
three. The father shall be divided against the son, and 
the son against the father ; the mother against the daughter 
and the daughter against the mother ; the mother-in- 
law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law 
against her mother-in-law." Whilst the prosecutions were 
continued, it was a season of the deepest gloom "and anxiety. 
For a time no life was safe ; and so great was the prevailing 
terror that whosoever was charged with guilt confessed it, 
and thus blinded the judges. " From March to August, 
1692," writes Dr. Bentley, ''was the most distressing time 
Salem ever knew : business was interrupted, the town de- 
serted, terror was in every countenance, and distress in every 
heart. Every place was the subject of some direful tale, 
fear haunted every street, — melancholy dwelt in silence 
in every place after the sun retired. The population was 
diminished, business could not for some time recover its 
former channels, and the innocent suffered with the guilty. 
But as soon as the judges ceased to condemn, the people 
ceased to accuse. Terror at the violence and the guilt of the 
proceedings succeeded instantly to the conviction of blind 
zeal, and what every man had encouraged, all now professed 
to abhor. Every expression of sorrow was found in Salem. 
The church erased all the ignominy they had attached to 
the dead, by recording a most humble acknowledgment of 
their error. But a diminished population, the injury done to 
religion, and the distress of the aggrieved, were seen and 
felt with the greatest sorrow." ^ 

When charges were brought against persons of whose in- 
nocence everybody was satisfied, the crisis was produced. 

> History of Salem, in M. H. Coll. 

22 



170 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Even the imbecile mind of Cotton Mather learned a lesson 
by experience, and he was forced to exclaim, " The whole 
business is hereupon become so snarled, and the determina- 
tion of the question, one way or another, so dismal, that onr 
honorable judges have room for Jehoshaphat's exclamation, 
We know not what to do. They have used, as judges have 
heretofore done, the spectral evidences, to introduce their 
further inquiries into the lives of the persons accused ; and 
they have thereupon, by the wonderful providence of God, 
been so strengthened with other evidences, that some of the 
witch gang have been fairly executed. But what shall be 
done as to those against whom the evidence is found chiefly 
in the dark world ? Here they do solemnly demand our 
addresses to the Father of Hghts on their behalf. But in 
the mean time the devil improves the darkness of this affair 
to push us into a blind man's buffet ; and we are ever ready 
to be sinfully, yea, hotly and madly, mauling one another 
in the dark. The consequence of these things every con- 
siderate man trembles at, and the more, because the fre- 
quent cheats of passion and rumor do precipitate so many 
that I wish I could say the most were considerate." ^ 

At this juncture the court adjourned. Before it assem- 
bled again. Cotton Mather prepared his account of " The 
Wonders of the Invisible World," with the design of pro- 
moting " a pious thankfulness to God for justice being so 
far executed among us." The accusation of Mrs. Hale, 
wife of the minister of Beverly, broke the spell. Such was 

* Mather, in Fowler. Hale, 34-37. In reply to Calef, Mather compla- 
cently says, " For my own part, I know not that ever I have advanced any 
opinion in the matter of witchcraft but what all the ministers of the Lord that 
I know of in the world, whether English or Scotch, or French or Dutch 
(and I know many), arc of the same opinion." The pamphlet containing this 
remarkable assertion is in the Harvard Library. 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 171 

her genuine and distinguished character that superstition 
itself could not sully it. Mr. Hale, who had been active in 
the previous proceedings, was less active when the storm 
turned against his wife. Moreover, everybody knew her 
innocence and piety, and felt that her accusers had perjured 
themselves. Outraged justice stood forth once more in the 
light of day, and wielded her powers to preserve. The 
images and visions that had possessed the bewildered imagi- 
nations of the people flitted away. All men could have 
exclaimed, in the language of the great master of the 
drama, — 

"See! they're gone — 
The earth has bubbles, as the waters have, 
And these are some of them ; they vanished 
Into the air, and what seemed corporal, 
Melted as breath into the wind." 

Said Mr. Brattle, whose views were in advance of his 
time, "The court is adjourned to the first Tuesday in 
November, then to be kept at Salem ; between this and 
then will be the great assembly, in which this subject will 
be peculiarly agitated. I think it is matter of earnest sup- 
plication and prayer to Almighty God, that he would afford 
His gracious presence to the said assembly, and direct them 
aright in so weighty an affair. Our hopes are here ; and if 
at this juncture God does not graciously appear for us, I 
think we may conclude that New England is undone." ^ On 
the 18th of October the representatives of the people as- 
sembled ; and the people of Andover remonstrated against 
the doings of the self-constituted tribunal, not a single mem- 
ber of which, from the chief judge down to the lowest 

> M. H. Coll., V. 76. 



172 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

official, had been elected by the suffrage of the people. 
"We know not," said the remonstrants, "who can think 
himself safe, if the accusations of children, and others under 
a diabolical influence, shall be received against persons of 
good fame." ^ We know only the issue of the discussions 
which followed. The excess of the evil wrought its cure ; 
and as the excitement subsided, the prominent actors in 
the tragedy began to reflect. Sewall acknowledged his 
error, and begged the forgiveness of those he had wronged. 
Hale made a similar confession in his " Modest Inquiry." 2 

In April, 1693, many members of his church drew up 
articles against Mr. Parris. " They charge the said Parris 
of teaching such dangerous errors and preaching such scan- 
dalous immoralities as ought to discharge any man, though 
ever so gifted otherwise, from the work of the ministry. 
Particularly in his oath against the lives of several, wherein 
he swears that the prisoners with their looks knock down 
those pretended sufferers. We humbly conceive that he who 
swears to more than he is certain of, is equally guilty of 
perjury with him that swears to what is false." Mr. Parris 
was allowed no peace and comfort after this outburst in his 
parish ; and the inexorable indignation of the Salem people 
finally drove him from the place.^ 

The pudding-faced, sanctimonious, and unfeeUng Stough- 
ton, notwithstanding that the twelve men who had served 
as jurors in the court at Salem had published a recantation 
of their sentiments, never repented. When he was informed 
of the action of his brethren, he observed that when he sat 



' Calef in Fowler. Abbot's Hist, of Andover, 164. 

* Hutchinson, ii. 62. Drake, Hist, of Boston, i. 502. The "Modest In- 
quiry " was first published in 1697. 
' Bentley, Hist, of Salem. Calef, in Fowler. 



THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION. 173 

in judgment, he had the fear of God before his eyes, and 
gave his opinion according to the best of his understanding. 
Although it might appear afterwards that he had been mis- 
led into error, he saw no necessity of making a public ac- 
knowledgment of it.i 

Cotton Mather, as we have previously remarked, was the 
leading champion in the persecution of the witches. He 
also never repented. The public mind understood him at 
last ; it discovered his credulity and his self-righteousness. 
In order to shield himself, and to cover up his confusion, he 
endeavored to persuade others that he had not been spe- 
cially active in the tragedy. But he found it to be a task 
greater than he could accomplish. With all his scholar- 
ship and his intellectual ability, he was by his whole life a 
bane to Massachusetts and New England, and a dupe of his 
own stupidity. 

The witchcraft delusion was, at the best, a most unhappy 
affair. Some have spoken of it in terms of contempt ; others 
have unsparingly denounced all who participated in it ; while 
only a few have weighed the subject dispassionately. Per- 
haps the words of an eminent jurist may most fittingly close 
the present chapter : — 

" We may lament the errors of the times, which led to 
these persecutions. But surely our ancestors had no special 
reasons for shame in a belief which had the universal sanc- 
tion of their own and all former ages ; which counted in its 
train philosophers as well as enthusiasts ; which was graced 
by the learning of prelates as well as by the countenance ■ 
of kings ; which the law supported by its mandates, and the 
purest judges felt no compunctions in enforcing. Let Witch 
Hill remain forever memorable by this sad catastrophe, not 

' Hutchinson, ii. 62. 



17-4 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

to perpetuate our disbonor, but as an affecting, enduring 
proof of human infirmity, a proof that perfect justice be- 
longs to one judgment-seat only — that which is linked to 
the throne of God." i 

' Hon. Joseph Story, Centennial Address, 1828. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 175 



CHAPTER IX.. 

THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 

Joseph Dudley was removed from office shortly after 
the accession of George I. An attempt was made to confer 
the government of Massachusetts upon Colonel Burgess, 
who, although he was a professed " friend to liberty," and 
of an " open, generous, and humane disposition," was par- 
ticularly obnoxious to the people. He did, indeed, receive 
his commission ; but the ojffer of a thousand pounds sterling 
persuaded him to relinquish the same in favor of Samuel 
Shute, who, to the popular element at least, was more accepta- 
ble. The politicians of New England had many prejudices ; 
and it required something more than mere administrative 
ability to overcome them. 

During the latter part of the administration of Governor 
Dudley there was felt a serious stringency in money affairs. 
The wars which England had waged on the continent of Eu- 
rope had not only largely increased her own debt„ but also 
crippled the resources of her colonies. To remedy the evil, 
merchants and politicians were continuously devising schemes. 
Some advocated a return to the gold and silver currency ; 
others argued in favor of a public bank ; while still others 
labored for the establishment of a private bank. The gov- 
ernor's council favored the public bank ; but the house was 
divided in opinion. Thus the differences «of opinion gave rise 
to a wide-spread controversy, which was agitated, not alone by 



176 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the government, but by the whole community as well. After 
a prolonged wrangle, the public-bank party prevailed, and 
" a loan of fifty thousand pounds in bills of credit was 
agreed to by the General Court, which was placed in the 
hands of trustees, and loaned for five years at five per cent, 
interest, one fifth of the principal to be paid yearly." This 
settlement of the vexed question was displeasing to many ; 
and if it diminished the strength of the private-bank party, 
it increased their zeal.^ 

As was anticipated, Governor Shute, upon his arrival at 
Boston, in October, 1716, allied himself with the party 
which had triumphed. By so doing he won no friends in 
the private-bank party ; on the contrary, the opposition of 
the latter to his administration was from beginning to end 
marked by extreme violence. 

At this time the province of Massachusetts was in a prosper- 
ous condition. Within its bounds there were living " ninety- 
four thousand white persons, who possessed two thousand 
slaves, and twelve hundred civilized Indians, who professed 
Christianity and tilled their lands in peace." The popula- 
tion of all the colonies at this time was, according to the 
official reports, four hundred and thirty-four thousand and 
six hundred. The commerce of the country had rapidly 
increased. Massachusetts owned at least one hundred and 
ninety vessels, n*ivigated by eleven hundred seamen ; in the 
fisheries alone one hundred and fifty vessels and six hundred 
men were engaged. " The value of the annual imports to 
all the American plantations at this date is estimated at 
' one million sterling, in British products and manufactures 
and foreign goods,' the conveyance of which employed at 
least a fourth part of the shipping cleared from the kingdom. 

' Hutchinson, ii. 187, 190. Barry, ii. 72. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 177 

The exports at the same date amounted to eight hundred 
thousand pounds sterlmg ; and the balance of two hundred 
thousand pounds fell upon the provinces to the northward 
of Maryland, who were enabled to discharge the same by 
the trade they were permitted to carry on in America and to 
Europe, in commodities not enumerated in the Acts of Trade. 
From Boston alone, in the three years ending June 24, 1717, 
there were cleared for the West Indies, including the British 
islands, five hundred and eighteen ships, sloops, and other 
vessels ; for the Bay of Campeachy, twenty-five vessels ; for 
foreign plantations, fifty-eight vessels ; for Newfoundland, 
forty-five vessels ; for Europe, forty-three vessels ; for Ma- 
deira, the Azores, &c., thirty-four vessels ; for Great Britain, 
one hundred and forty-three vessels ; for British plantations 
on the continent, three hundred and ninety vessels ; and 
eleven vessels for ' ports unknown ; ' an aggregate of twelve 
hundred and forty-seven vessels, amounting to sixty-two 
thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight tons of shipping, 
and employing eight thousand six hundred and ninety-seven 
men." It will thus be seen that Massachusetts, more than a 
century and a half ago, was the same busy and enterprising 
community as at present. 

" If the colonies are so prosperous," reasoned the king's 
ministers, " we should reap the benefit of that prosperity ; and 
they, as subjects, are bound to contribute to the relief of our 
necessities. If England is burdened with debt, America 
must aid in paying that debt ; and if the colonies will not 
voluntarily submit, they must be forced to obey. We can 
make our power felt ; and if they refuse to yield, we must 
punish their stubbornness by retrenching their privileges." 
If England was not prone to perceive that the prosperity of 
her colonies was her own prosperit}'^, she was shrewd enough 
23 



178 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

to discover that proprietary governments showed " too great 
an inclination to be independent of their mother country, 
and carried on a trade destructive to that of Great Britain." 
" It hath ever been tlie wisdom," said tlie ministers, " not only 
of Great Britain, but likewise of all other states, to secure 
by all possible means the entire, absolute, and immediate 
dependency of their colonies." Hence the beginning of an 
attempt to reduce the colonies of America by " compelling 
them, by proper laws, to follow the commands sent them by 
the crown." 

For some time back the English government had enter- 
tained the opinion that manufactures in the plantations. 
*' tended to lessen their dependence on Great Britain." It 
was said in print, as early as 1705, that " the colonists will, in 
process of time, cast off their allegiance to Eno-land, and set 
up a government of their own ; " and soon it was said, " by 
people of all conditions and qualities, that their increasing 
numbers and wealth, joined to their great distance from 
Britain, would give them an opportunity, in the course of 
some years, to throw off their dependence on the nation, and 
declare themselves a free state, if not curbed in time, by 
being made entirely subject to the crown." In these years 
England always manifested an autocratic spirit towards her 
colonies ; her extreme selfishness demanded a stern exercise 
of arbitrary power ; and, like an unnatural parent, she treated 
her subjects, for more than seventy years, as aliens and rivals. 
It is not to be wondered at that the latter in return refused to 
; submit to such conduct, or at least sho\7ed their disapproval 
of it by tokens of disrespect. 

When, in 1719, Great Britain placed restrictions upon nearly 
every branch of colonial industry, when it was decreed that 
" none in the plantations should manufacture iron wares of 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 179 

any kind whatsoever," that hats should not be transported 
from one plantation to another, and that " any forge going 
by water " should cease " making bar or rod iron," then the 
wrath of the people knew no bounds, and for a while the 
government was in a constant state of trepidation. Every 
day the finances of the province became more embarrassing ; 
trade began to languish, and money grew scarce. All those 
who depended on salaries for support were reduced to great 
(vant and suffering ; even the interests of religion and of 
education tended to decay ; manufacturing ceased altogether ; 
and finally, whilst the rich were growing richer and the poor 
were growing poorer, the province appeared to many to be 
on' the verge of bankruptcy and ruin. 

Governor Shute was not equal to such an emergency, nor 
was his conduct such as was calculated to conciliate the people. 
If the newspaper press complained of wrongs, he was sure to 
censure its outspoken voice. Between himself and the House 
an endless controvers}^ was maintained. At the opening of 
the court, in March, 1721, the governor recommended cer- 
tain measures which he deemed of importance. Among these 
were recommendations that something ought to be done to 
prevSnt the depreciation of the currency ; that the authors 
of seditious writings ought to be punished ; that unlawful 
trade with the French at Cape Breton ought to be sup- 
pressed ; and that his own salary ought to be increased. The 
House took no notice of any of these proposals, but even 
made matters worse by choosing a new speaker, and ac- 
quainting the governor and council that " John Clark, Esq., 
is chosen speaker of the House, and is now sitting in the 
chair." Whilst the governor, in the height of rage, was pon- 
dering over the next step to be taken, the small-pox became 
prevalent in Boston, and the terrified court adjourned to 



180 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Cambridge, where, in the month of June, they adopted a new 
system of tactics. At the same time the governor advised 
the ministers in England that " the assembly, composed of 
men more fit for the affairs of farming than for the duty of 
legislators, showed no regard to the royal prerogative or 
instructions, but endeavored to transgress the limits of the 
charter, though he was indeed supported by the council, 
who themselves wanted assistance." 

Mention has been made of the small-pox. It broke out 
in April, and spread itself with frightful rapidity. Over 
five thousand persons were attacked by this loathsome dis- 
ease in Boston alone, of whom eight hundred and forty-four 
failed to ]-ecover. At the instance of Cotton Mather, Dr. 
Boylston, a noted physician of the day, was persuaded to 
try the experiment of inoculation upon his own children and 
servants ; but the majority of the profession strenuously 
opposed its practice, because they were either " not suffi- 
ciently assured of its safety and consequences," or reckoned 
it "a sin against society to propagate infection by this 
means." Certain pious people even went so far as to insinuate 
that, if any of the patients of Dr. Boylston died, he " should 
be treated as a murderer ; " and finally the House prohibited 
inoculation entirely. Those who dared to favor the practice 
were subjected to the most shameless abuses by the popu- 
lace ; and in more than one instance they were threatened 
with mob vengeance. In the end, be it said, its defenders 
triumphed. 

During these discussions the Indians, who had been insti- 
gated by the French, again gave cause for difficulties. The 
chief villain in this scheme was Sebastian Rasles, a Jesuit 
missionary, who had falsely accused the New England colo- 
nists of encroaching on territory belonging to the tribes. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 181 

Led on by this man, the Indians began once more to commit 
depredations. The House resolved to punish the offenders, 
and ordered that a hundred and fifty men should be sent to 
Norridgewock, a lovely village on the Kennebec, to " compel 
the Indians to make full satisfaction for the damages they 
had done." At the same time a warrant for the arrest of 
Rasles was issued. These resolves were deemed by the 
governor equivalent to a declaration of war, and conse- 
quently an invasion of the prerogative. They were, there- 
fore, rejected by the council. In August, 1721, two hundred 
Indians, marching under French colors, visited Georgetown, 
a small island town below Arrowsic, and left a threatening 
message for the governor. In November, an English party 
under the command of Colonel Thomas Westbrooke repaired 
to Norridgewock and captured the papers, but not the person 
of Rasles. His faithful disciples had taken care to " secure 
him, and to fly with him into the woods." The young Baron 
de Castine, a half-breed, who was both a war chief and held 
a French commission, was also seized, conveyed to Boston, 
and there put into close confinement. This proceeding in- 
flamed the Indians more than ever before, and in the follow- 
ing year they landed at Merry Meeting Bay, now Alton Bay, 
and took several families prisoners. The burning of Bruns- 
wick soon followed. 

In August, the government of Massachusetts branded the 
Eastern Indians as traitors and robbers, and declared war 
against them. The House presumed to take the whole man- 
agement of the affair upon themselves, when the governor, 
having informed them that " the king, his master, and the 
royal charter, had given him the sole command and direction 
of the militia, and all the forces which might be raised on 
any emergency, and that he should not suffer himself to be 



182 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

under any direction but his own, and those officers he shouki 
think fit to appoint," caused them no little annoyance. The 
controversy was not yet ended, when the magistrate secretly 
left the country, never more to return. 

The House was resolved not to abandon the war which 
it had so unceremoniously declared. Each day added to the 
list of outrages committed by the savages. Canseau had 
been surprised, and sixteen vessels belonging to Massachusetts 
had been taken. Rasles still lurked in the neighborhood of 
Norridgewock. In despair he viewed the weakness of his 
defence, and the departure of many of his red people into 
Canada. " I count not my life dear unto myself," said he, 
"so I may finish with joy the ministry which I have re- 
ceived." The expedition to Penobscot, which had set out 
under public auspices, foresaw that the safety of the coast 
towns could never be secured until the Indians should have 
been driven far away. Breathing vengeance, Westbrooke's 
party made an atrocious attack on Norridgewock, on the 
evening of the 24th of August, 1724. So carefully was the 
advance guarded by Harmon's rangers and a company of 
Mohawks, that the village was surrounded before the inhab- 
itants had received any intimation of their approach. A 
shower of bullets swept through the streets ; some of the 
Indians escaped; but all who remained, including men, 
women, and children, were massacred. After they had pil- 
laged the church and the cabins, and set fire to the village, 
the invaders hastened their retreat. 

" The noise and tumult," says Charlevoix, " gave Pere 
Rasles notice of the danger his converts were in, and he 
fearlessly showed himself to the enemy, hoping to draw all 
their attention to himself, and to secure the safety of his 
flock at the peril of his life. He was not disappointed. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 183 

As soon as he appeared, the English set np a great shout, 
which was followed by a shower of shot, when he fell dead 
near to the cross which he had erected in the midst of the 
village. Seven chiefs, who sheltered his body with their 
own, fell around him. Thus did this kind shepherd give 
his life for his sheep, after a painful mission of thirty-seven 
years." As soon as the English had gone, the savages re- 
turned to secure their wounded and to bur}^ their dead. 
Rasles' body was found horribly mangled, his skull broken, 
scalped, and his mouth and eyes filled with dirt. " After 
his' converts had raised up and oftentimes kissed the pre- 
cious remains, so tenderly and so justly beloved by them, 
they buried him in the same place where he had, the even- 
ing before, celebrated the sacred mysteries, namely, the spot 
where the altar stood before the church was burnt." ^ Thus 
perished Sebastian Rasles, the "most noted of the Catholic 
missionaries in New England." He was sixty-seven years 
of age, and had been a preacher of the gospel in America 
just thirty-seven years. 

Previous to this event, the government of Massachusetts, 
in order to stimulate the activity of private parties, had 
offered a reward of fifteen pounds, and afterwards of a hun- 
dred, for every Indian scalp. In the winter of 1724-5, John 
Lovewell raised a company of volunteers, and made one or 
two successful expeditions ; in a third sally to a place called 
Fryeburg, he was surprised and slain. In December, a treaty 
of peace was agreed upon in Boston ; and in the following 
year, 1726, the lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, the 
lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire, and General Mas- 
carene of Nova Scotia, ratified the treaty at Falmouth. 
Thus ended Indian difficulties which had lasted nearly forty 

' Charlevoix. 



184 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

years; with the overthrow of the missions, the ruin of 
French influence was completed. " Influence by commerce 
took the place of influence by religion, and English trad- 
ing-houses supplanted French missions. The eastern boun- 
dary of New England was settled." ^ 

From these scenes, we must now turn to the political 
movements in Massachusetts. After the sudden departure 
of Shute, William Dumnier, the lieutenant-governor, re- 
mained at the head of affairs. In the beofinning; he s^ave 

o o o 

the court to understand that he was willing to " concur with 
them in any measure for his Majesty's service and the good 
of the province." " Although the unei'ring Providence of 
God " — Samuel Sewall, the stern advocate of the people's 
rights, arose to reply — " has brought your honor to the 
chair of government in a cloudy and tempestuous season, 
yet you have this for your encouragement, that the people 
you have to do with are part of the Israel of God, and you 
may expect to have of the prudence and patience of Moses 
communicated to you for your conduct. It is evident that 
our Almighty Saviour counselled the first planters to remove 
hither and settle here ; and they dutifully followed his 
advice, and therefore he Avill never leave nor forsake them 
nor theirs ; so that your honor must needs be happy in sin- 
cerely seeking their happiness and welfare, which your birth 
and education will incline you to do. .Bifficilia quce pulchra. 
I promise myself that they who sit at this board will 5'ield 
their faithful advice to your honor, according to the duty of 
their place." ^ 

As might have been expected. Governor Shute laid his 
grievances before the king, and demanded an investigation 
of the same. After his departure, the House sent two memo- 

* Bancroft, iii. 338. ' Boston News Letter, No. 989. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 185 

rials to England, in justification of their late proceedings. 
But the king and his council, all unfavorable to the province, 
decided that they had acted wholly in the wrong. The 
death of George I. was followed by a change in the ministr}- ; 
and Governor Shute, who was just on the point of sailing for 
America, was deprived of his commission, and the same was 
bestowed on William Burnet, formerly governor of New York, 
and a son of Bishop Burnet, the historian of the Reformation. 
The new governor arrived in Boston in July, 1728, pom- 
pously welcomed both by the press and the pulpit. Mather 
Byles, the poet of the province, thus celebrated the event : — 

" Welcome, great man, to our desiring eyes ; 
Thou earth, proclaim it ! and resound, ye skies ! 
Voice answering voice, in joyful consort meet; 
The hills all echo, and the rocks repeat. 
And thou, O Boston, mistress of the towns, 
Whom the pleased Bay with am'rous arms surrounds, 
Let thy warm transports blaze in numerous fires, 
And beaming glories glitter on thy spires ; 
Let rockets streaming uji the ether glare. 
And flaming serpents hiss along the air." ' 

Governor Burnet may have been heartily gratified by the 
vain show of the populace ; but certain it is, he was in no wise 
bewildered' by such flattering attention. In his opening ad- 
dress to the court he made known his Majesty's intentions, 
and swore to adhere to them. Whether this was a challenge 
or not, the House chose to consider it as such, but were not 
intimidated. At the session in July the House granted him 
seventeen hundred pounds towards his support and to defray 
the expenses of his journey. He refused to accept this 
amount, and insisted on an established salary. Hitherto it 
had been the custom to make such grants as the good offices 
of the governor might seem to merit ; and never had a 

' Drake's Hist, of Boston, oSl. 

24 



186 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

regular salary been fixed. By clinging to this policy, the 
House believed that it would be impossible for the governor 
ever to become independent of the legislature, or control 
their proceedings by his own pleasure. Burnet demanded 
a change without further debate ; the patriots scorned " to 
betray the great trust reposed in them by their principals.!' 
The affair assumed a serious turn. " If you refuse to 
accede," said the governor, " the legislature of Great Britain 
may take into consideration the support of the government, 
and perhaps something else besides," — meaning the charter. 
Such a menace as this only added fuel to the flame. The 
House, however, still remained firm ; the towns unanimously 
supported them, and Boston especially gave token of its 
aversion to the proposals of the king in strong terms. An 
attempt was made in September to conciliate the governor 
by granting him one thousand pounds sterling for half a 
year's management of affairs ; but he refused to accept such 
a sum. 

On the 24th of October the governor adjourned the court 
to Salem ; the board of trade censured the stubbornness of 
the House ; and the agents of Massachusetts advised con- 
cession. " It is better," responded the representatives, " that 
the liberties of the people should be taken from them, than 
given up by themselves." Wearied with the contest, the 
House resolved to petition the king for redress. A subscrip- 
tion was raised, and Mr. Francis Wilkes, a New England 
merchant then resident in England, and Mr. Jonathan 
Belcher, a prominent member of the Council, were selected 
as agents. The appeal was presented to his Majesty, but 
failed of recognition, and it began to appear as if the affair 
would finally be brought before Parliament. In the midst 
of the controversy the governor died; and in September, 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 187 

1729, the administration again passed into the hands of Wil- 
liam Dummer. 

Mr. Jonathan Belcher, a young man of pleasing address, 
was still in England when the tidings of Burnet's death 
arrived. Fired with ambition, and supported by Shute and 
other of his friends, he applied for the governorship, and 
obtained it. One reason why he was thus chosen was, that 
no one else possessing the ability could be found in the king- 
dom willing to accept the appointment ; and, furthermore, it 
was thought that he, being popular among his own country- 
men, would be the better able to arrange the unsettled state 
of affairs. Before his return to America, Mr. Dummer saw 
fit to advise the statesmen of New England. " I am not 
afraid," he wrote, in August, " to add my hearty wishes 
that the assembly would, of choice and by their own consent, 
comply with his Majesty's, instructions, and fix the governor's 
salary for the time of his government, or for a term of years. 
I am of opinion that they cannot do- a wiser or better thing 
in their present circumstances. As they have agreed on the 
question, and have determined to give it annually, it's a 
pity they won't go a step farther, and make it a resolve of 
the House, by which they will at once restore themselves to 
his Majesty's favor, and put an end to the confusions and 
distractions among themselves. New England justly boasts 
of her loyalty ; but me thinks it would not be amiss if to that 
we added a little complaisance to the crown, if such an ex- 
pression may be allowed. I am afraid, if we don't do it 
willingly, we shall be compelled to do it unwillingly. The 
ministers are determined to lay it before Parliament, and if 
they bring in the bill, who will undertake to get it thrown 
out?"i 

' Letter in Lib. M. H. Soc. 



188 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Governor Belcher reached Boston on his return from Eng- 
land about the middle of August, and in the following 
month he communicated his instructions to the assembly. 
" In case of the refusal of the House to comply with these 
instructions," he said, "his Majesty will find himself under 
a necessity of laying the undutiful behavior of the province 
before the legislature of Great Britain, not only in this single 
instance, but in many others of the same nature and ten- 
dency, whereby it manifestly appears that this assembly, for 
some years last past, has attempted by unwarrantable practices 
to weaken, if not to cast off the obedience they owe to the 
crown, and the dependence which all colonies ought to have 
on their mother country." ^ As before, the House maintained 
its position on the question of the governor's salary ; and at 
last Belcher obtained leave of the crown to accept the annual 
grants, and thus put an end to the controversy. The Gor- 
dian knot of provincial freedom remained uncut, and the 
strong will of Massachusetts had achieved a victory which 
largely influenced its future politics. 

In 1739 England declared war with Spain. Six years 
before, the latter had concluded a family compact with 
France for the ruin of the maritime supremacy of England, 
and since that time she had labored hard to preserve her 
own monopoly on the high seas, to put down the vast sys- 
tem of smuggling which rendered it valueless, and to restrict 
English commerce to the negro slave-trade, and the single 
ship stipulated by the treaty of Utrecht. The English peo- 
ple were mad for war ; Walpole, the minister, stood alone 
for peace. When at length war was declared, Walpole bowed 
to the popular will. " They may ring their bells now," said 
he, as peals and bonfires welcomed his defeat, " but they 

' Hutchinson, ii. 333. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 189 

will soon be wringing their hands." This struggle, which 
began in an ill hour for England, in a happy one for America, 
exerted great influence upon the destinies of New England. 
Admiral Vernon, with an English fleet, had already bom- 
barded and taken Portobello ; and Governor Belcher had 
received orders to encourage the enlistment of troops in 
Massachusetts to aid in the expedition against Cuba. In 
the spring of 1740, Massachusetts sent forth five hundred 
of her young men ; the majority of them either fell victims 
to the insalubrity of the climate, or came back with ruined 
constitutions. Only a very few perished in battle. By this 
unreasonable aggression, the province of INIassachusetts was 
still more impoverished, and the remainder of Governor 
Belcher's administration was marked by an endless series of 
pecuniary difficulties. 

About this time the dispute which had long been waged, 
relative to the boundary lines between Massachusetts and 
New Hampshu'e, and Ptymouth and Rhode Island, was 
finally adjusted. The governor made a state entry into 
Hampton Falls in August, 1737, accompanied by the legisla- 
ture, and by five troops of horse. In the George Tavern 
long conferences about the provincial boundaries were held 
with the assembly of New Hampshire. The latter demanded 
the territory which now composes her two lower tiers of 
towns, which had been settled by Massachusetts men under 
Massachusetts charters. As the parties failed to agree, an 
appeal was transmitted to the king, setting forth how " the 
■y^st, opulent, and overgrown province of Massachusetts was 
devouring the poor, little, loyal, distressed province of New 
Hampshire." The heart of the king was touched ; where- 
upon he commanded Massachusetts to surrender to New 
Hampshire a tract of land comprising twenty-eight towns, 



190 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and extending from the Connecticut River to the sea. At 
the same time another piece of country to the south was 
assigned to Rhode Island. The governor's pompous visit to 
the Falls gave origin to the following pasquinade : — 

"Dear Paddy, you ne'er did behold such a sight 
As yesterday morning was seen before night. 
You in all your born days saw, nor I didn't neither, 
So many fine horses and men ride together. 
At the head the lower house trotted two in a row, 
Then all the higher house pranced after the low; 
Then the governor's coach galloped on like the wind. 
And the last that came foremost were troopers behind; 
But I fear it means no good to your neck nor mine. 
For they say 'tis to fix a right place for the line." 

By his steady opposition to the current schemes of the 
province, Governor Belcher gradually became unpopular. 
Even his friends in England were prejudiced against him, 
and united with • his enemies at home in seeking for his 
removal. At length his administration came to an end in 
1741 ; his integrity, which had been impeached, was vindi- 
cated in England, and six years later he received an appoint- 
ment as governor of New Jersey. He was one of the most 
elegant gentlemen of his time in manners and appearance, a 
native of New England, one of Harvard College's best 
friends, and a great favorite with all with whom he asso- 
ciated. Taken all in all, he was as amiable, generous, and 
noble-hearted a man as any of whom the province could 
boast ; perhaps, therefore, it was fortunate for him and for 
his country that his administration ended before he had 
done anything to merit public rebuke. After his decease, 
which took place in New Jersey in 1757, his remains were 
brought home to Massachusetts and deposited in the old 
churchyard in Cambridge. The tomb — since known as the 
Dana tomb — may still be seen near the gateway. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 191 

The immediate successor of Governor Belcher was William 
Shirle}^ a native of Sussex, in England, and a rising lawyer 
by profession. Previous to his appointment he had resided 
eight years in New England, and was one of the commis- 
sioners chosen to adjust the boundary line between Massa- 
chusetts and Rhode Island. He entered upon the duties of 
his office in the summer of 1741, and by prudent manage- 
ment he soon won the full confidence of the people. In 
the early part of his administration a religious movement, 
known as the "Great Awakening," agitated America. In 
opposition to the rigorous creed of Calvin, — the creed of 
the Puritan founders of Massachusetts, — new forms of faith 
were springing up. In 1699 was founded the Brattle Street 
Church in Boston, which long continued to advocate views 
essentially different from those laid down in the Puritan 
creed. Not only churches, but eminent individuals were 
" hereticals " on some points, and even Dunster and Chauncy, 
presidents of Harvard College, because they cherished other 
than the prevailing views on the subject of baptism, were 
classed with the " obnoxious " set. In rapid succession, 
societies of Antinomians, Anabaptists, Gortonists, and Quak- 
ers were gathered ; advocates of Episcopacy followed ; and 
" when Arminian and Socinian doctrines were advanced, it 
seemed to those who had been brought up in the ' straitest 
sect ' of former days as if the flood-gates of degeneracy 
were opened upon the world, and as if New England was to 
be buried beneath the waves of infidelity and apostasy." 
So many changes in religion could not fail to give rise to a 
controversy. 

Jonathan Edwards, born in Connecticut in 1703, and for 
many years a preacher of the gospel, had already, by his 
marvellous sermons, unevadable in their directness, incon- 



192 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

trovertible in their logic, and terrific in their earnestness, 
induced a wide-spread enthusiasm. He, the greatest of 
American metaphj'sicians, wielding the magnetic power of 
Chrysostom, had given form to the faith of the past, and 
reduced fluctuating opinions to a symmetrical system. Upon 
the advent of George Whitefield, above all others the 
preacher of the revival, the " trumpeter " of the Great 
Awakening, the struggle which had been convulsing the 
community was brought to a crisis. His preaching, although 
theatrical, extravagant, and oftentimes commonplace, was 
such as had never been heard before ; its intense reality, 
its earnestness of belief, its deep, tremulous sympathy with 
the sin and sorrow of mankind, hushed all criticism. It was 
no common enthusiast who could wring gold from the close- 
fisted Franklin, and admiration from the fastidious Horace 
Walpole, or who could look down from the top of a green 
knoll at Kingswood on twenty thousand colliers, grimy from 
the Bristol coal-pits, and see, as he preached, the tears, 
" making white channels down their blackened cheeks." 
As in England, so in America, his nervous eloquence stirred 
a passionate hatred in his opponents. The ministers of the 
province were divided in their opinions, and while some 
welcomed him as an ally, others denounced him as an " itin- 
erant scourge." His adherents became known as the " new 
lights ; " his opponents as the " old lights," and between the 
two lay the party of reform, with Chauncy as its leader. 

The conflict continued. The press helped to foment the 
strife, and hundreds of ponderous works were put forth by 
the ministers. Indeed, nearly every clergyman in the land 
felt it to be his duty to take a position either on one side 
or the other, and to deal blows either for good or for evil 
in the controversy. New England has never known so 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. I93 

thorough an " awakening ; " and if it produced no lasting 
result, it certainly secured a free discussion, and hastened 
the progress of light and truth. 

In 1744, France declared war with England. Before the 
tidings had reached America, Duvivier had fitted out an 
armament at Louisburg, in Cape Breton, surprised the little 
English garrison at Canseau, destroyed the fort and the 
fishery, and taken eighty prisoners. Other places were like- 
wise threatened. Louisburg was at this time the stronghold 
of the French in the east, and the people of New England 
looked with awe upon its sombre walls, whose towers rose 
like giants above the northern seas. Its harbor was guarded 
by a heavy battery on Goat Island, and by the Grand Bat- 
tery stationed near the entrance. A deep moat and pro- 
jecting bastions were on the landward side, and opposite 
was the great careening dock. An unbroken line of defences 
also surrounded the town. Late in the summer the prisoners 
taken at Canseau were sent to Boston on parole ; and from 
them accurate accounts were obtained relative to the condi- 
tion of the Louisburg fortress. 

Governor Shirley at once resolved on an enterprise for its 
reduction. Messengers were despatched to England to solicit 
ships of war for the protection of the east ; Commodore War- 
ren was invited to lend his assistance ; and the details of the 
proposed plan were fully sanctioned by the legislature. The 
whole charge of the expedition devolved upon New England. 
Massachusetts furnished three thousand two hundred and 
fifty troops ; New Hampshire, three hundred ; and Connec- 
ticut five hundred. Colonel William Pepperell, of Kittery 
Point, Maine, was appointed to the command of this force, 
to whom also George Whitefield gave the motto, Nil des- 
perandum, Christo duce^ • — " Nothing is to be despaired of, 
25 



194 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

with Christ for the leader," — thus making the enterprise a 
sort of Puritan crusade. " The naval force, besides trans- 
ports, consisted of three frigates of twenty guns each, a 
' snow ' of sixteen guns, a brigantine of twelve guns, and 
five sloops mounting from eight to twelve carriage-guns, 
provided at the expense of Massachusetts ; the armed sloops 
of Connecticut and Rhode Island, each of sixteen guns, and 
a small vessel from New Hampshire. The military munitions 
consisted of eight cannon carrying twenty-two pound balls, 
twelve carrying nine-pound balls, two twelve-inch mortars, 
and two of less diameter, taken from the castle, and ten 
eighteen-pound cannon borrowed from New York." ^ 

The troops arrived at Canseau in April, 1745, and were 
joined by Commodore Warren's West India fleet. Every- 
thing in Canseau was in a quiet state ; and while the French 
still persisted in treating the invasion as a mere farce, the 
English were equally sure of the success of the undertaking. 
" Our success," wrote Shirley, " will depand on the execu- 
tion of the first night after the arrival of our forces. The 
fleet must make Chapeau-Rouge by nine o'clock in the even- 
ing, when they cannot be easily seen, and from thence push 
into the bay, that all the men may be landed before njid- 
night. The troops, divided into four companies, are to scale 
the walls at different points, and to attack the Grand Bat- 
tery. The formation of these companies will take up at 
least two hours' time, and the march another two hours ; so 
that it will be four in the morning before the attack can be 
commenced. This will be a late hour, so that the fleet 
must arrive punctually, or all may fail." ^ If success de- 
pended on such conditions, how dubious was the prospect ! 
But Fortune sometimes smiles even upon novices in war. 

* Barry, iii. 141. * Shirley to Wcntwortli, in Belknap's N. H., ii. 209. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 195 

On the 1st of May a detachment of four hundred men, 
commanded by Colonel William Vaughan, of New Hamp- 
shire, landed and marched to the north-east part of the har- 
bor, setting fire to the large naval houses on the way. As 
the huge black clouds of smoke rolled above the Grand Bat- 
tery, the garrison, struck with a panic, spiked their guns and 
fled in the darkness of night. Early in the morning Colonel 
Vaughan took possession of the battery, and sent for re-en- 
forcements. Shortly afterwards Colonel Bradstreet, with 
fresh troops, arrived. In vain did the French seek to expel 
the invaders. At sundown six companies were quartered in 
the battery, and throughout the whole night Major Seth 
Pomeroy, of Northampton, a gunsmith by trade, and his 
fellow smiths, were employed to drill the cannon which the 
enemy had spiked. It was no easy task ; and while engaged 
in it, Pomeroy became convinced of the stupendous magnitude 
of the enterprise in hand. " Louisburg," he wrote home to 
his wife, "is an exceedingly strong place, and seems impreg- 
nable. It looks as if our campaign would last long ; but I 
am willing to stay till God's time comes to deliver the city 
into our hands." From the 2d to the middle of May 
preparations for the siege were going on. In the mean time 
councils of war were held ; and a siimmons to surrender was 
sent to Duchambon, the commandant at Louisburg. Affairs, 
however, " proceeded in a random manner. The men knew 
little of strict discipline ; they had no fixed encampment ; 
destitute of tents to keep off the fogs and dews, their lodg- 
ings were turf and brush houses, their bed was the earth — 
dangerous resting-places for those of the people unacquainted 
with lying in the woods. Yet the weather was fair, and the 
atmosphere, usually thick with palpable fogs, was, during the 
whole siege, singularly dry." ^ 

» Bancroft, iii. 461. 



196 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

On the loth, the Vigilant, a French ship of sixty-four 
guns, carrying a supply of military goods from Brest to 
Louisburg, encountered the Mermaid, belonging to Commo- 
dore Warren's fleet. The latter, standing off in the fog, 
made sail and fled towards the squadron, pursued by the 
Vigilant. Fire opened on every side, but the French cap- 
tain, the Marquis de Maisonforte, refused to surrender. The 
battle was terrific, and lasted for seven hours ; the Vigilant 
lost all of her rigging, her rudder was broken, and great 
numbers of her crew were either wounded or slain. On 
the 24th, Commodore Warren proposed that " sixteen hun- 
dred men should be embarked, and that all his Majesty's 
ships, and the provincial cruisers except two, with the cap- 
tured ship Vigilant and the schooners and transports, should 
enter the harbor and attack the town and batteries with the 
utmost vigor, while the marines, under Captain James 
McDonald, were to be landed, and, sustained by the rest of 
the troops, were to make an attack on shore." This plan, 
however, was not approved b}'- the general of the land 
forces, who had other methods of his own to be pursued. 
Fascine batteries were erected at stated distances from the 
West Gate, and a breaching battery was reared at night 
within two hundred and fifty yards of the walls. Amid the 
roar of a continual bombardment, the garrison made sorties 
by land and sea ; fifteen hundred of the Americans were 
either lying sick or wounded, six hundred were kept out 
in the country watching for Indians, and two hundred had 
perished in an attempt to seize the Island Battery. 

Early in June a battery, containing three embrasures facing 
the Island Battery and six facing the sea, was completed near 
the light-house ; and Pepperell consented that six hundred 
men should be sent on board the Vigilant, and five hundred 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. I97 

on board the other ships. A general attack by land and sea 
was then concerted, — Warren was to enter the harbor with 
his squadron, and Pepperell was to open all his batteries 
upon the town ; biit before such a plan could be put into 
execution, the desponding Duchambon, satisfied that it was 
useless to contend longer, sent out a flag of truce, and 
offered to surrender the fortress, " on condition that his 
troops, some sixteen hundred in number, should be permitted 
to retain their arms and colors." The proposition was ac- 
cepted ; and thus, on the 16th of June, 1745, Louisburg, 
styled the " Dunkirk of America," was formally surrendered 
to the Americans. As, on the following day, the troops 
entered the fortress and beheld with awe its massive strength, 
" Surely," said they, " God has gone out of the way of his 
common providence, in a remarkable and almost miraculous 
manner, to incline the hearts of the French to give up and 
deliver this strong city into our hands." The capture of 
Louisburg " filled Europe with astonishment and America 
with joy." The batteries of London Tower fired salutes ; 
and, in recognition of their services, King George II. made 
Pepperell a baronet, and Warren a rear-admiral. " That a 
colony like Massachusetts, at that time far from being rich 
or populous, should display such remarkable military spirit 
and enterprise, aided only by the smaller province of New 
Hampshire ; that they should equip both land and sea forces 
to attack a redoubtable fortress, called by British officers 
impregnable, and on which the French crown had expended 
immense sums ; that four thousand rustic militia, whose 
officers were as inexperienced in war as their men, although 
supported by naval forces, should conquer the regular troops 
of the greatest military power of the age, and wrest from 
their hands a place of unusual strength, — all appear little 



198 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

short of a miracle." ^ " The capture of Louisburg," wrote 
SmoUet, " was the foremost achievement of the war of 
1745." And one of the actors in the scene declared that 
" in all the histories he had read, he never met with an in- 
stance of so bold and presumptuous an attempt." 

Flattered by their brilliant success, the Americans now 
conceived the project of the conquest of Canada. The gov- 
ernors of all the colonies as far south as Virginia were 
ordered by the Duke of New Castle, then secretary of state, 
to raise companies of men and to await future orders. Eng- 
land promised to send over eight battalions, under the com- 
mand of Lieutenant General St. Clair, with a squadron 
commanded by Rear Admiral Warren. These and' the New 
England forces were to rendezvous at Louisburg, and from 
thence to proceed to Quebec. The southern troops were to 
assemble at Albany, and from thence to march to Montreal. 

Meanwhile the French, inflamed by their recent disaster, 
were planning the recovery of Louisburg and the destruc- 
tion of Boston. In 1746 an Armada, a huge fleet consisting 
of seventy sail, and commanded by the Duke d'Anville, left 
the harbor of Brest j to " conquer the British North Ameri- 
can coast from Virginia to Newfoundland." Unparalleled 
and disastrous storms proved more terrible than the enemy's 
fire ; and when, in September, D'Anville reached Halifax, he 
could boast of only two ships of the line and a few transports. 
Suddenly he was removed by death. A few days later the 
vice-admiral committed suicide, the men perished of disease 
by hundreds, and what remained of the fleet hastily retired 
from American waters. After this disastrous failure. La 
Jonquiere, with sixteen men-of-war and twenty-eight other 

' Murdock, Hist, of Nova Scotia. The siege ia minutely described in 
Brown's Hist, of Cape Breton, 168-248. 



THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE. 199 

vessels, was sent from France on the same mission. Off 
Cape Finisterre he was attacked by the fleets of Anson and 
Warren, and was signally defeated. From this time onward 
the American colonies suffered only on the frontier. The 
expedition against Quebec was deferred ; Fort Massachu- 
setts, in Williamstown, — the post nearest to Crown Point, — 
long known "as the Thermopylae of America," was attacked 
by de Vaudreuil, and surrendered only when every grain of 
powder was exhausted. In 1748 the peace of Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle put an end to the war. Those who took no part in 
framing this treaty suffered the most. The peace was, in 
fact, a mere truce, forced on the contending powers by sheer 
exhaustion, and both parties were agreed simply to restore 
their conquests. On these terms Louisbuio; and Cape Bre- 
ton were restored to France, and thus, " ^fttr four years of 
warfare in all parts of the world, after -di the waste of blood 
and treasure, the war ended just where it began." 

About this time a serious tumult occurred in Boston. A 
number of sailors having deserted from the squadron at Nan- 
tasket. Commodore Knowles sent boats to the town the next 
morning and seized several of the seamen belonging to the 
vessels in port, " impressing some ship's carpenters' appren- 
tices and laboring landsmen." This outrage aroused the 
indignation of the people, and a mob was formed. About 
dusk, several thousand men assembled in King Street, below 
the town-house, where the General Court was in session. All 
attempts to appease the animosity of the crowd proved fruit- 
less ; and even Pepperell, " with all his personal popularity, 
was equally unsuccessful in stilling the tumult." On the 
foUovving day the troops were ordered under arms ; the 
governor, fearful of his safety, withdrew to the castle ; and 
Commodore Knowles was requested to propose some method 



200 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of conciliation. The only method which he would accede 
to was to bombard the town. On the 19th of November, 
the court, who had hitherto withheld their interference, 
resolved "to stand by, and support with their lives and 
estates, his excellency the governor and the executive part 
of the government, and to exert themselves, by all ways and 
means possible, in reducing such grievances as his Majesty's 
subjects have been and are under." This and other resolves 
quieted the excitement, and on the 20th the governor was 
conducted back to his residence with great parade. The 
commodore freed the seamen whom he had impressed, and 
shortly afterwards took his departure. 

• From this time onward the province continued to prosper. 
In 1748 the population somewhat exceeded two hundred 
thousand souls ; that of Boston alone was upward of twenty 
thousand. In all the counties there were one hundred and 
forty towns, — nearly double the number at the grant of 
William and Mary. The commercial wealth was, also, 
steadily increasing. Tlie value of the imports from Great 
Britain to America, from 1738 to 17-18, amounted, in the 
aggregate, to more than thirty millions of dollars, or about 
seven and a half millions sterling. It may be said, finally, 
that the province had increased in wisdom ; that its experi- 
ence at the hands of the mother country was not forgotten ; 
and that already many honestly believed that the same old 
drums that beat at the fall of Louisburg would soon be re- 
quired to rally American patriotism in defence of God-given 
rights and liberties. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 201 



CHAPTER X. 
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 

The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, whicli was forced 
on the contending powers by sheer exhaustion, was more a 
truce than a league. France was dreaming of far wider 
schemes for the humiliation of England ; and her aims spread 
far beyond Europe. In America, she not only claimed the 
valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, but forbade 
the English colonists to cross the AUeghanies, and planted 
Fort Duquesne on the waters of the Ohio. At the same 
time England was looking forward to the day when she 
should be able to expel the French from North America, 
supply the farthest wigwam from her workshops, and assume 
absolute sway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. For the 
purpose of frustrating the plans of France, a company, 
chiefly of Virginians, was formed, and, in 1749, settlements 
were projected on the banks of the Ohio. By the terms of 
the treaty of 1748, the bounds of the two nations were to 
remain the same as before the war ; but, for a quarter of a 
century, these bounds had been in dispute. Measures were 
taken, in 1750, for the adjustment of these bounds, and com- 
missioners were appointed. Nearly two years were spent 
in idle conference, and no satisfactory result was reached. 

Meanwhile a fleet, under Edward Cornwallis, arrived in 
American waters, and established an English settlement near 
the harbor of Chebucto, which received the name of Halifax, 
26 



202 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

in honor of the Earl of Halifax. Thus sprang into existence 
the first town of English origin east of the Penobscot. Be- 
fore the winter of 1749 had closed, nearly three hundred 
houses were covered in. Shortly afterwards a blockhouse 
was raised at Minas, now Lower Horton, and a fort was 
built at Pesaquid, now Windsor, to protect the communica- 
tions with Halifax. These posts, with Annapolis on the 
Bay of Fundy, secured the peninsula.^ 

Governor Shirley, who had won renown at Louisburg, 
was now desirous of gathering fresh laurels on the field of 
action. To him it seemed, since the failure of the commis- 
sion, that war between England and France was inevitable ; 
and he himself was quite urgent that it should commence 
speedily. Should hostilities open, he felt sure that he woald 
be promoted at once to the charge of a regiment, if not 
made a general officer. Both at home, and in his de- 
spatches to England, he urged the necessity of repelling the 
designs of the French, and of extending the territory of 
Massachusetts to the eastward. In 1752 hostilities began 
in the south. In the following year Governor Dinwiddle, 
of Virginia, his attention being attracted by supposed en- 
croachments of the French, and by their seeming efforts to 
connect the Lakes with the Ohio by a line of posts, sent a 
letter to St. Pierre, the commanding ofiicer on the Ohio, 
requiring him to withdraw from the English dominions. 
George Washington, then just twenty-two years of age, was 
commissioned to be the bearer of this demand. But little 
did he foresee the consequences which were to result from 
this movement, or dream of the honors which the future had 
in store for him. 

It was late in the spring when Washington, commanding 

> Haliburton, Nova Scot. i. 136-142. Bancroft, iv. 44-46. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 203 

a small body of troops, began his line of march towards the 
position of the enemy. The English, however, were but a 
handful compared to their opponents ; and, in July, after 
several futile attempts to dislodge the French, the situation 
of Washington became perilous. His troops were almost 
destitute of provisions, and the ground which he occupied 
was ill adapted to military purposes. Completely hemmed 
in on every side, Washington was forced to sign articles of 
capitulation, by which Fort Necessity was surrendered to the 
enemy, and he and his troops were permitted to return with- 
out molestation into the inhabited parts of Virginia. Thus 
the French remained possessed of the banks of the Ohio ; 
and the frontiers were again exposed to their ravages, and 
those of their Indian allies.^ 

On the 19th of June, 1754, a memorable congress of com- 
missioners from every colony north of the Potomac assembled 
at Albany. The delegates convened for the purpose of con- 
certing measures of defence, and of treating with' the Six 
Nations, whose alliance it was important to secure. America 
had never before witnessed so venerable a conference ; and 
every voice declared a union of the colonies to be absolutely 
necessary. " A voluntary union," wrote Franklin, " entered 
into by the colonies themselves, would be preferable to one 
imposed by Parliament ; for it would be, perhaps, not much 
more difficult to procure, and more easy to alter and improve, 
as circumstances should require and experience direct." 
The first day of the congress was spent in organizing, and 
settling preliminary business. The representatives of the 
Six Nations assembled tardily, and, although negotiations 
were carried on at intervals, the " chain of friendship " was 
thoroughly wrought. On the 24th, a committee, composed 

^ Marshall's Washington, i. .2-6. 



204 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of Thomas Hutclimsoii of Massachusetts, Theodore Atkinson 
of New Hampshire, Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, Wil- 
liam Pitkin of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Penn- 
sylvania, William Smith of New York, and Benjamin Tasker 
of Maryland, all of them distinguished men, with eighteen 
others less famous, was appointed " to prepare and receive 
plans or schemes for the union of the colonies, and to digest 
them into one general plan for the inspection of this board." ^ 
Four days later " hints of a scheme " were presented, and 
these " hints " were debated for several days. On the 10th 
of July, Franklin " reported the draught in a new form," 
which, after a short debate, was adopted. 

By the terms of this plan, " the local constitutions were 
recognized. The representatives of the people of each 
colony, in their own assembly, were to choose, every three 
years, members to form a Grand Council ; the general gov- 
ernment was prohibited from impressing men without the 
consent of the local legislature ; any colony, on an emer- 
gency, might defend itself; and the particular military as 
well as civil establishments in each colony were to remain in 
their present state, ' the general constitution notwithstand- 
ing ; ' with this proviso, however : ' except in the particu- 
lars wherein a change might be directed ' by the contem- 
plated act of Parliament. The union element was embodied 
in a Grand Council, to meet once a year.- It was to have 
the power to choose a speaker, and was not to be dissolved, 
prorogued, or continued in session longer than six weeks, 
without its own consent, or the special command of the 
crown. It was to be empowered to make treaties with the 
Indians, regulate trade with them, buy lands of them for 
the crown, and authorize new settlements ; and for these 

» Doc. Hist, of N. Y., u. 664. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 205 

purposes to make laws ; to levy duties, imposts, or taxes ; 
to nominate all civil ofiScers who were to act under the 
constitution, and to approve of all military officers ; to 
appoint a general treasurer, and a special treasurer in each 
government, and to have a joint voice in the expenditure 
of the moneys raised; to enlist and pay soldiers and build 
forts. The laws were not to be repugnant to those of Eng- 
land, but as near as possible to be agreeable to them ; and 
they were to be submitted to the king, and if not disap- 
proved within three years, to remain in force. The ex- 
ecutive power was to be vested in a president-general, 
appointed and supported by the crown. He was to nomi- 
nate military officers ; commission all officers, manage, with 
the advice of the Grand Council, Indian affairs ; have a 
negative on all the acts of the Grand Council ; and to carry 
their acts into execution." ^ 

Such was the confederacy of 1754, framed just twenty- 
two yeai's before the Declaration of Independence, and 
opposed by no one on the royalist side except De Lancey 
of New York, and approved at the time by every member 
of the congress save him. A copy of the plan was sent to 
each one of the colonies which had not appointed commis- 
sioners, and was then earnestly recommended to the people. 
On the 11th of July the congress adjourned. There was 
nothing binding in the action of the congress until con- 
firmed by the assemblies. Strange as it may seem, the plan 
was negatived by every assembly before which it was brought, 
and public opinion declared loudly against it. In England 
it met with a similar fate ; and reflecting men in the Old 



* Frothingham, Kise of the Kepublic, 142, — a work invaluable to every 
American citizen. 



206 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

"World "dreaded American union as the keystone of inde- 
pendence." ^ 

In the month of October, Franklin visited Boston, the 
home of his childhood. Shortly after his return to Phila- 
delphia, he carried on a private correspondence with Gov- 
ernor Shirley relative to the plan of a union of the colonies. 
In these letters Franklin, " without opposing a more inti- 
mate union with Great Britain by representatives in Par- 
liament, provided a reasonable number was allowed, at 
the same time urged a repeal of the acts restraining the 
trade and manufactures of the colonies, as unjust and im- 
politic." 

Meanwhile the French were encroaching within the limits 
of Massachusetts ; and in March, 1754, the governor urged 
the General Court to provide for the raising of a small 
army. A force of eight hundred men wa's mustered into 
service, and was ordered to march to the Kennebec. About 
three quarters of a mile below Taconnet Falls, a fort, called 
Fort Halifax, was built. On the present site of Augusta, 
another fort was erected, to which was given the name of 
Fort Western. Projects for the war were now daily con- 
sidered. Governor Shirley was as busy as ever, and seemed 
never to flag. In the spring of 1755 the squadron of 
Commodore Keppel anchored in Hampton Road ; and about 
the middle of April, by the orders of Braddock, who had just 
been appointed commander-in-chief of the colonial forces, 
Shirley and the other governors held a conference with him 
at Alexandria. At this conference Braddock stated that he 
had been ordered to conduct in person an expedition to 
Fort Duquesne ; he proposed that the regiments of Shirley 
and Pepperell should march to Lake Ontario, the troops of 

* Hutchinson, iii. 23. Smith's Hist, of N. Y., ii. 180, seq. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 207 

General Johnson to Crown Point, and the ISTew England 
troops should sail to the eastward to reduce the French 
settlements in Nova Scotia. 

In June, twenty-two hundred men, under the command 
of General Braddock, left Fort Cumberland. On the 8th 
of July, the advance body, after a long and tedious march 
through a trackless waste, reached the junction of the 
Youghiogeny and Monongahela, twelve miles distant from 
Fort Duquesne. Fearful of the approach of the invaders, 
a band of two hundred and fifty French and Canadians 
and six hundred and fifty Indians hastened to a spot pre- 
viously selected for an ambuscade. On the 9th, the two 
armies met, and a desperate combat ensued. The English 
were mown down like grass. Of eighty-six officers, twenty- 
six were killed and thirty-seven were wounded ; while of 
the men, more than half were completely disabled. Brad- 
dock himself, after five horses had been shot from under 
him, fell mortally wounded. Every attempt to rally the 
troops was vain. The rout was complete ; and as quickly 
as possible, such of the army as survived, retreated from 
the scene of a " most scandalous" defeat.^ 

Shirley was on his way to Oswego when he received the 
tidings of this frightful disaster. By the death of Braddock, 
the chief command of the forces devolved upon him, and 
he was now in the height of his glory. There was a fort 
at Oswego ; and it was here that he purposed to concen- 
trate his forces previous to proceeding to Niagara. Although 
the troops were disheartened by the defeat of Braddock, 
Shirley managed to urge them forward, and on the 21st of 
August he arrived at Oswego. Here weeks were passed in 
building boats and in the construction of a new fort. The 

' Sargent's Braddock's Exped., 132, seq. Bancroft, iv. 184-192. 



208 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

18tli of September was set as the day for embarking the 
troops on Lake Ontario; but a storm, followed by head 
winds, rendered this enterprise unsuccessful. On the 24th 
of October, Shirley returned to Massachusetts, leaving Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Mercer in command at Oswego. 

Meanwhile General William Johnson, of New York, had 
been placed in command of the expedition, which was to 
proceed to Crown Point for the reduction of Fort Fred- 
erick. His commission had been signed by Governors Shirley 
and De Lancey; and the army under his charge consisted 
of New England militia, chiefly from Connecticut and Mas- 
sachusetts. About the middle of July, Major General Ly- 
man^ with a detachment of one thousand men, advanced to 
a point near the head springs of the Sorel, about sixty 
miles from Albany, and in the following month had built 
Fort Edward. Johnson and the artillery train arrived at the 
fort on the l-4th of August. Having held a council of war, 
he advanced, with the main body of the army, across the 
portage of twelve miles, to the southern end of Lake George, 
which the French called St. Sacrament. Here he pitched 
a camp for five thousand men ; and here, while his men 
were reposing in idleness, and admiring the beautiful and 
romantic, the news came that a party of French and Indians 
had been discovered at Ticonderoga. Johnson proposed to sail 
thither, and despatched a letter to Shirley requesting boats. 

Very soon, England and America were both to unite in re- 
joicing over a signal victory. In May, 1755, a French fleet of 
twenty-two ships of the line, besides frigates and transports, 
had sailed from Brest, under the command of the veteran 
Baron Dieskau. About the middle of June a thousand of 
the troops had been landed at Louisburg, while the remain- 
der, under De Vaudreuil and Dieskau, arrived at Quebec. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 209 

" Boldness wins," was Dieskau's maxim ; and his first pro- 
jecyt was, by the advice of De Vaudreuil, to seize the fort 
at Oswego. The movements of Johnson, however, induced 
him to alter his plans, and instead, to .cross Lake Cham- 
plain, and gain the rear of the English army. Early in 
September, Johnson learned of the approach of the enemy, 
and having detached a thousand English and two hundred 
Indians, and intrusted the command to Ephraim Williams, 
a Massachusetts colonel', and to Israel Putnam of Connecti- 
cut, he ordered them to march to the relief of Fort Edward. 
Johnson, with four thousand able-bodied men, still remained 
in the encampment on Lake George. 

On the 8th of September, about an hour after the de- 
parture of Williams, loud firing betokened the nearness of 
the enemy ; and it soon transpired that the small detach- 
ment had been surprised, and forced to retreat, with the 
loss of their commander. Upon a sudden, the troops under 
Dieskau came in sight. The camp was not yet fortified ; 
but " when the noise of musketry was heard, two or three 
cannon were hastily brought up from the margin of the 
lake, and trees were felled for a breastwork." ^ It had 
been Dieskau's plan to rush suddenly into the camp ; but 
the Iroquois "took possession of a rising ground, and stood 
inactive." The Abenakis did likewise. Whereupon the 
regulars, finding themselves deserted by the Canadians and 
their savage allies, skulked behind trees and opened a brisk 
fire. The battle began just before noon, and for five hours 
the New England militia kept up the "most violent fire 
that had as yet been known in America." Dieskau, thrice 
wounded, was made a prisoner. Of the Americans, two 
hundred and sixteen were killed, including the gallant Tit- 

» Bancroft, iv. 210. 
27 



210 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

comb, who had bravely fought at the siege of Louisburg, 
and ninety-six were wounded. The loss of the French was 
much greater. For his services in this engagement, Johnson 
received the honors of knighthood from the king, and a gra- 
tuity of five thousand pounds. Such was the feeling in 
England, that the House of Lords praised the colonists as 
" brave and faithful," while the ministry exulted in the 
defeat and death of Dieskau.^ 

Another project remains to be noticed, — the expedition 
against Nova Scotia, — which, though proposed by Massa- 
chusetts, was undertaken at the expense of the crown. The 
army consisted of tAvo battalions, the first under the com- 
mand of John Winslow, of Marshfield, the second under the 
•command of Colonel Scott. Lieutenant Colonel Monckton, 
•'Of Nova Scotia, was appointed by the king to take charge of 
the expedition. On the 20th of May the troops from Mas- 
sachusetts embarked, and arrived at Annapolis towards the 
last of the month. On the 1st of June the whole fleet, 
^numbering forty-one vessels, anchored about five miles from 
.Fort Lawrence, near the site of Beaubassin. On the 2d the 
troops landed, and on the 3d a council of war was held, and 
the siege of Beau Sejour was resolved upon. In the mean 
ftime from twelve to fifteen hundred Acadians, by the influ- 
ence of the Abbe Laloutre, had gathered around Beau Sejour. 

On the 4th the Anglo-American troops left their camps, 
■on the glacis of the St. Lawrence, and began the march 
towards Beau Sejour. The route lay over a marsh, and the 
progress of the army was slow and guarded. Four days 
later General Winslow attacked the fort. The siege was 
continued until the 16th, when the enemy surrendered, 

' Doc. Hist, of N. Y., ii. 083, seq. Mortimer, Hist, of Eng., i. 511, seq. 
Bancroft, Barry, &c. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 211 

the " garrison being allowed to march out with the honors 
of war, and to be transported to Louisburg, with their 
effects, at the expense of Great Britain, on condition' of 
remaining neutral for the space of six months." Laloutre 
escaped to Quebec, and, being censured, was afterwards re- 
manded to France. A few days later, the fort at Gaspe- 
reaux, on Bay Verte, surrendered on the same terms. The 
question now arose. What shall be done with the Acadians ? 
For over two hundred years they had dwelt in the country ; 
by the treaty of Utrecht they had been brought under the 
dominion of Great Britain ; and for nearly forty years they 
had been neglected by the latter. This frugal, industrious, 
and benevolent people were now spoken of as the " neutral 
French." Althougji they were peaceful and honest, the 
anomalous position of these alien subjects was a source of 
vexation to the English power. At a council held at Hali- 
fax, in 1755, it was determined that the Acadians must either 
take an unconditional oath of allegiance to Great Britain or 
leave the country. Almost unanimously they refused to 
take the oath, but declared that " not the want of arms, but 
their conscience, should engage them not to revolt." On 
• the 11th of August it was resolved, at a council, that the 
people should be driven from their homes, and scattered, as 
exiles, over the whole breadth of the continent. Always 
oppressed by the English, they were now treated as captives.^ 
A general proclamation was now issued, ordering all the 
males of the settlements, " both old and young men, as well 
as all the lads of ten years of age," to assemble at the church 
at Grand Pr^ to hear " his Majesty's orders." On the 5th 
of September four hundred and eighteen unarmed men 
obeyed. " You are convened together," said General Wins- 

' Haliburton, Nova Scotia, i. 163, seq. Minot, i. 122. 



212 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

low, " to manifest to you his Majesty's final resolution to 
the French inhabitants of this his province. Your lands and 
tenements, cattle of all kinds, and live stock of all sorts, 
are forfeited to the crown, and you yourselves are to be 
removed from this his province. I am, through his Majesty's 
goodness, directed to allow you liberty to carry off your 
money and household goods, as many as you can, without 
discommoding the vessels you go in. I hope that, in what- 
ever part of the world you may fall, you may be faithful 
subjects, a peaceable and happy people. Meanwhile you 
are the king's prisoners, and will remain in security under 
the inspection and direction of the troops I have the honor 
to command." ^ On the 10th of September the inhabitants 
of Grand Pr^ — in all one thousand nine hundred and 
twenty-three souls — assembled together for the last time. 
The prisoners were drawn up in the church, six deep, and 
all the young men were ordered to embark first on board 
the vessels. Next marched the fathers, and lastly, mothers 
and wives and little ones were told that they must wait 
until the arrival of fresh transports. In December the last 
scene in the cruel drama had been performed, — the last 
Acadian had departed. " It is some consolation," says a 
historian, " to know that very many of the exiles returned 
within a few years to their native land, and though not 
restored to their native farms, they became an integral and 
respected portion of the population, displaying, under all 
changes, those simple virtues that they had inherited, — the 
same modest, humble, and peaceable disposition that had 
been their early attributes." 2 The Acadians were dispersed 

' Winslow's Journal, 178, 179. 

* Murdock, Hist, of Nova Scotia. Upon the fate of one of the families of 
Grand Pre, Longfellow founded his poem of "Evangeline." The Acadians 
live to us now chiefly in history, 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 213 

from New Hampshire to Georgia. In a land of strangers, 
they gradually dropped out of the living, leaving no descend- 
ants, and to posterity — only a name. 

Such were the events of the campaign of 1755. Although 
blood had been wasted, and a whole people scattered to the 
four winds, not yet had war been formally declared either 
by England or France. In the spring of 1756, General 
Johnson, having built Fort William Henry on Lake George, 
and garrisoned it with sixteen hundred men, returned home. 
These, with the garrison of seven hundred men at Oswego, 
constituted the entire strength of the English upon the 
western frontier. The defences of the French included Fort 
Frontenac, at Cataraqui, near Lake Ontario, a fort at Crown 
Point, with works at Ticonderoga, and another at the Falls 
of Niagara, called Niagara. Their posts extended as far 
west as the Mississippi, and as far south as the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

Governor Shirley, as has been said, returned to Massachu- 
setts in the autumn of 1755. At Albany, where he lingered 
for a few days, he received his commission as commander- 
in-chief " of all his Majesty's forces in North America ; " 
and by his orders, a congress of governors and field officers 
was held at New York in December of that year. At this 
conference, Shirley remarked that " the French settlements 
at the mouth of the Mississippi furnished these northern 
garrisons neither with provisions nor stores, being not only 
at two thousand miles' distance from any of them, but 
embarrassed with insuperable difficulties by a laborious navi- 
gation against a rapid stream ; " and hence, that, " could the 
French be dislodged from Frontenac and the little fort at 
Toronto, and their entrance into Lake Ontario obstructed, 
all their other forts and settlements on the Ohio and the 



214 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

western lakes were deprived of their support from Canada, 
and must ere long be evacuated." ^ Shirley then proposed 
an early attack upon Fort Frontenac, Toronto, and Niagara ; 
and that Quebec should be menaced by way of the Kennebec 
and the Chaudicre. His colleagues thought all efforts vain 
without the interference and assistance of Parliament. " If 
they expect success at home," wrote Gage, " acts of Parha- 
ment must be made to tax the provinces, in proportion to 
what each is able to bear ; to make one common fund, and 
pursue one uniform plan for America." ^ 

Shirley now petitioned the legislature of the province for 
men and munitions to carry out his plans. After some hesi- 
tation, resolutions were passed " for raising three thousand 
men, in order to remove the encroachments of the French 
from his Majesty's territories at or near Crown Point, in 
humble confidence that his Majesty will hereafter be gra- 
ciously pleased to give orders for defraying the expense of 
this expedition, and for establishing such garrisons as may 
be needed in order to maintain the possession of the country." 
At the suggestion, offered indirectly by the legislature, 
Shirley conferred the chief command upon General Winslow, 
" an officer of high standing and distinguished abilities." 
In the mean time Parliament, not indifferent to the projects 
under consideration, granted one hundred and fifteen thou- 
sand pounds, and forwarded the amount to America, where 
it was divided among the troops who had served the previous 
year. Another proceeding of Parliament was unlooked for ; 
and it was, to the governor of Massachusetts, a very great 
surprise. It was affirmed that his services in behalf of the 
crown were over-estimated, that he was not so efficient a 
soldier as he thought himself, and that his eagerness to for- 

> 1 M. H. Coll., vu. 132. « Bancroft, iv. 222. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 215 

ward his own interests had raised up for him rnany enemies. 
At the instance of Lord Cumberla,nd and FoxAShirley was 
disphiced, and the Earl of Loudoun was appointed governor 
of Virginia and commander-in-chief of the armyi It was 
in the summer of 1756, and Shirley was in New York 
when he received tidings of his recall. Pending tile arrival 
of Loudoun, the charge of the army devolved on/ General 
Abercrombie. 

In July, General Abercrombie asked Winslow, ■v^ho was 
on the point of leaving Alban}^ with about seven thousand 
men, " what effect the junction of his Majesty's forces would 
have with the provincials, if ordered to join them in their 
intended expedition ? " Winslow replied, that " he should 
be extremely pleased if such a junction could be made, and 
that he was under the immediate command of the com- 
mander-in-chief ; but apprehended that, if by this junc- 
tion the provincial officers were to lose their command, 
as the men were raised immediately under them by the 
several governments, it would cause almost an universal 
discontent, if not desertion." After the arrival of Lord 
Loudoun, the same question was asked, and the same answer 
was returned ; but, finally, it was agreed that the troops of 
the several provinces should conduct their operations sepa- 
rately. 

Affairs at Oswego were not in a prosperous condition. 
The garrison was short of provisions, and word had been 
brought in that a French army of twelve hundred men was 
preparing to attack the place. On the 12th of August, Os- 
wego was invested, and three days later it fell. The forts 
were razed. " This is the banner of victory," was the 
inscription upon the cross planted by the missionaries on the 
vacant site. "Oswego is lost — lost, perhaps, forever," 



216 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

exclaimed the English. " Would to God this was all," 
wrote Winslow, " and we had nothing more to apprehend ! 
The French can now, with the utmost facility, secure the 
inland country, and confine us to the very brinks of the 
ocean.; a free communication is opened between Canada and 
Louisiana, and all our intercourse with the Indians totally 
rescinded." ^ Winslow was ordered to fortify his own camp 
at Fort William Henry, Lyman to remain at Fort Edward, 
Webb to post himself at the Great Carrying Place, and 
Johnson to tarry at the German Flats. Before the year 
closed a change took place in the British ministry, and 
William Pitt, " the great Commoner," assumed the reins 
which had fallen from the hands of the Duke of New Castle. 
From this moment the Americans grew more hopeful, and 
"joy revived in the countenance of every individual." 
Throughout the whole land the cry arose, " Canada, 
Canada must be destroyed, or we are undone ! We have 
wasted our strength in lopping the branches ; the axe must 
be laid to the root of the tree."^ 

After the departure of Shirley, the chief command in Mas- 
sachusetts rested with Spencer Phips, the lieutenant gover- 
nor. He, however, refused to act in the present emergency ; 
and a commission, consisting of Thomas Hutchinson, William 
Brattle, Thomas Hubbard, John Otis,*and Samuel Welles, 
was appointed to represent the province at a military council 
held in Boston, in January, 1757. A levy of troops, amount- 
ing to four thousand men, was called for from New England, 
— all of whom were to be mustered into service before the 
last of March. In May tidings were received from England 
that the king had appointed Thomas Pownall, Esq., governor 
of Massachusetts. He arrived in Boston in August, and 
was formally received by the people. 

' Winslow's Journal. * Barry, ii. 219. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 217 

During the winter of 1756-57 the French continued their 
preparations for a new campaign. By the ordere of Mont- 
calm, a detachment of French and Indians, under Vaudreuil 
and De Longueuil, was sent for the reduction of Fort Wil- 
liam Henry. Several attempts were made to capture the 
place, but the garrison was on the watch, and the enemy 
" could only burn the English batteaux and sloops, the store- 
houses, and the huts of the rangers within their pickets." 
Meanwhile the English were getting ready for another expe- 
dition. In June, Lord Loudoun left New York with six- 
thousand men, in a fleet of four war ships and seventy trans- 
ports, and reached Halifax towards the close of the month. 
Other forces had departed thither before him ; and the 
whole armament at the disposal of the British leaders com- 
prised nineteen ships of the line and frigates, together with 
a body of ten thousand men. Instead of pushing forward 
the attack on Louisburg, which had been proposed, Lou- 
doun wasted his time " in making sham-fights and planting 
"cabbages." The French were re-enforced ; and Loudoun, 
deeming a venture useless, abandoned the expedition and 
returned to New York.^ 

During this dallying in the north, Montcalm had con- 
centrated all his forces at Montreal, previous to making 
another attack upon Fort William Henry. On the 2d of 
August the savage allies of the French dashed openly upon 
the waters of Lake George, landed at the southern ex- 
tremity, and took the English almost by surprise. Montcalm 
disembarked shortly afterwards, and at once began the 
attack. Within the fort was a garrison of less than five 

' Warburton, Conq. of Canada, ii. 59-62. Loudoun lacked decision. 
" Pie is like St. George upon the sign-posts," said Franklin, " always on horse- 
back, but never advances." 

28 



218 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

hundred men, under the command of the brave Colonel 
Monro. On the 4th, the French summoned Monro to sur- 
render. "Only at the last extremity," was the gallant 
reply ; and not until the evening of the 9th, when half of 
the cannon were burst and all the ammunition was exhaust- 
ed, did Monro hang out a flag of truce. General Webb, at 
Fort Edward, had a force of four thousand, and might have 
marched to the relief of Monro if he had been so disposed. 
Although cognizant of the scheme of the enemy, he seems 
to have viewed the preparations of Montcalm " with an 
indifference and security bordering on infatuation. It is 
creditably reported that he had private intelligence of all 
the doings and motions of the French general, yet, either 
despising his strength or discrediting the information, he 
neglected collecting the militia in time, and the fortress 
fell." ^ After the surrender of the fort, as many of the 
English as escaped butchery at the hands of the Indians 
fled to Fort Edward. 

By this disaster the English lost control of the basin of 
the Ohio. Already had they been driven from the basin of 
the St. Lawrence ; and many began to entertain the opinion 
that so long as the war was conducted by British command- 
ers, the French would continue to be victorious. " O, that 
we had nothing to do with Great BriUiin forever ! " was the 
impassioned wish of John Adams. But a brighter day was 
soon to dawn. In June, 1757, Pitt, having been reappointed 
to his office, exerted himself diligently to retrieve the for- 
tunes of England. While his constituents were bewailing 
ill luck both at home and abroad, " I am sure," said Pitt to 
the Duke of Devonshire, " I can save this country, and no 

' Mortimer, Hist. Eng., iii. 567. Webb was afterwards censured for his 
cowardice. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 219 

one else can." ^ Reviewing the reverses of 1757, he re- 
marked, " Nothing has been done ; nothing attempted. We 
have lost all the waters ; we have not a boat on the lakes. 
Every door is open to France." ^ Pitt now began to bring 
about a reform. In the spring of 1758 Lord Loudoun was 
recalled, and " added one more to the military officers who 
advised the magisterial exercise of British authority, and 
voted in Parliament to sustain it by iSre and sword." A 
letter was also forwarded to Massachusetts, recommending, 
in the strongest terms, the enlistment of fresh troops, and 
pledging a proper compensation by Parliament ; at the same 
time the king ordered that " every provincial officer, of no 
higher rank than colonel, should have equal command with 
the British, according to the date of their commissions." 

Thus encouraged, the legislature voted to raise seven 
thousand men. The legislatures of the other provinces voted 
likewise ; and before the season closed, no less than twenty 
thousand fresh troops were mustered into service. The 
English were now bent upon the reduction of Canada ; for 
whose safety the French trembled, while famine was staring 
them in the face. " I shudder when I think of provisions," 
said Montcalm. " The famine is very great." Two months 
later he wrote, " For all our success. New France needs 
peace, or sooner or later it must fall, such are the numbers 
of the English, such the difficulty of our receiving supplies." ^ 
Three projects were planned by the British ministry: the 
reduction of Louisburg, by the combined forces of Sir Jeffrey 
Amherst, James Wolfe, and Admiral Boscawen ; the scouring 
of the Ohio valley, by Joseph Forbes, and the expedition 
under the command of Abercrombie and Lord Howe against 
Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 

> Mahon, Hist. Eng., i. 299. =* Pouchot's Mems., i. 130, 131. 

* Bancroft, iv. 290. 



220 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In May, 1758, Amherst arrived at Halifax, with twenty- 
two ships of the line, fifteen frigates, and one hundred and 
twenty smaller vessels under Boscawen, and an army of 
twelve thousand men. Wolfe, who had fought at Dettingen 
and Fontenoy, and Cook, afterwards celebrated as the cir- 
cumnavigator of the globe, also served in the expedition. 
On the 8th of June the troops effected a landing at Gabarus 
Bay, under the well-directed fire of the French, and pushed 
through the fatal surf of Freshwater Cove. After losing one 
hundred and ten men, the English carried the intrenchments 
at the point of the bayonet, and the French fell back on 
Louisburg. Without delay Wolfe's brigade took possession 
of the old Lighthouse Battery, and opened fire on the city. 
Five of the French fi-igates sank under the tremendous can- 
nonade, and the harbor was left unguarded. In the mean 
time the heavy siege batteries were advanced rapidly, and 
poured in a crushing fire on the doomed city. At length, 
on the 26th of July, Louisburg was in ruins, and the fortress 
surrendered, with more than five thousand prisoners, two 
hundred and thirty-six pieces of artiller}', and an immense 
amount of stores and supplies. The " Dunkirk of America " 
had fallen, and all England rang with praises of the victory .^ 

Whilst this success was being achieved. General Forbes, 
with nearly seven thousand able-bodied men, was hastening 
his march against Fort Duquesne. In this expedition Colo- 
nel George Washington played a prominent part. As the 
troops drew near the fort, the garrison, about five hundred 
in number, set fire to the place, and proceeded down the 
Ohio in boats. Washington, with immense labor, succeeded 
in opening a way for the main body of the army, and upon 

' Manto's Hist, of the War, 152, 153. Mortimer, iii. 603-G04. Warbur- 
ton, ii. 74-80. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 221 

the 25th of November he planted his banner upon the 
deserted ruins. In honor of the great statesman of England, 
the place was named Pittsburg.^ 

The expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point 
proved a failure. In June an army of fifteen thousand men 
assembled on the banks of Lake George, and on the 5th 
of July the whole force, in upwards of a thousand boats, 
embarked for Ticonderoga. " The spectacle was gorgeous 
to behold ; the armament stretching far down the lake, and 
moving on, with flashing oars and glittering weapons, to 
strains of music Avhich rang shrilly from crags and rocks, or 
died away in mellowed strains among the distant moun- 
tains." ^ On the 6th, seven thousand men began a march 
through the woods, and, falling in with De Trepezee, at the 
head of three hundred men, a skirmish ensued, in which Lord 
Howe was the first to fall. Massachusetts voted a monument 
in honor of the gallant commander, which was placed in 
Westminster Abbey. On the 8th, the army continued the 
march. Montcalm beheld the discomfiture of his enemy, 
and prepared to meet them. A fierce battle ensued, in which 
two thousand of the English were either killed or wounded. 
The survivors, panic-stricken, did not pause in their retreat 
until "again far out on the bosom of Lake George." The 
reduction of Fort Frontenac, on the 28th, by Bradstreet, 
was only a partial atonement for the failure of Abercrombie.^ 

For the new year's campaign, Massachusetts raised seven 
thousand troops ; and the other colonies, likewise, put forth 
their best efforts. The great object in view was the capture 
of Quebec. On the . 1st of July, 1759, General Prideaux, 

* Pouchot, i. 170-177. Marshall's Wash., i. 22-26. Sparks's Wash., ii. 
271-827. 

* Barry, ii. 231. 

3 Pouchot, i. 134-159. Smith's New York, ii. 265. 



222 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

with a strong array, embarked on Lake Ontario, and, on the 
15th, invested Fort Niagara. By the death of Prideaux, 
the command devolved upon Sir William Johnson. On the 
25th the garrison capitulated. Before the close of the 
month General Stanwix, from Pittsburg, had taken possession 
of the French posts as far as Erie. In the mean time General 
Amherst had landed an army of eleven thousand men near 
the site of Abercombie's former encampment on the banks 
of Lake George. On the 23d of July, Bourlamarque, the 
commandant at Ticonderoga, conscious of his weakness, 
secretly abandoned the fort, after spiking the guns, and set 
fire to the military stores. On the 1st of August, Crown 
Point also was forsaken by the French, who then intrenched 
themselves at Isle-aux-Noix, near the entrance to the Rich- 
elieu River, " the most vulnerable, and at the same time the 
most vital part of Canada." 

Two months previous, a fleet under Sir Charles Saunders, 
and the army under General Wolfe, had arrived before 
Quebec. Pitt had resolved not merely to foil the ambition 
of Montcalm, but to destroy the French rule in America 
altogether ; and in choosing Wolfe as a commander, he had 
discerned the genius and heroism which lay hidden beneath 
the awkward manner and the occasional gasconade of the 
young soldier of thirty-three. Wolfe's army numbered not 
far from eight thousand men ; while the fleet of Saunders 
comprised twenty-two ships of the line, and as many frigates 
and armed vessels. No time was lost in perfecting the 
arrangements for the siege. On the 30th of June, Point 
Levi, opposite Quebec, and on the south shore of the St. 
Lawrence, was occupied by the English, and from this 
eminence heavy ordnance poured ruinous fire upon the city. 
On the 9th of July, Wolfe crossed the north channel, and 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 223 

encamped upon the eastern bank of the Montmorenci, 
whence he continued to storm the citadel with frightful 
effect. On the 18th, in concert with Saunders, Wolfe re- 
connoitred the shore above the town as far as the St. 
Charles. July and August passed away, without delaying 
operations. 

Early in September, Wolfe resolved to draw Montcalm 
into an open action. To be sure he had " the whole force 
of Canada to oppose, and by the nature of the river, the 
fleet could render no assistance." Having well secured his 
posts on the Isle of Orleans, and opposite Quebec, he moved 
his army down stream, and landed on the 13th, on the cove, 
" which now bears his name, where the bending promontories 
almost form a basin with a very narrow margin, over which 
the hill rises precipitously." From this position he resolved 
to surprise the city. It was an autumn evening when the 
general issued his last orders. As he passed from ship to 
ship, to make his final inspection, he repeated to his comrades 
the prophetic words from Gray's Elegy : — 

" The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike the inevitable hour; 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

" I would prefer," said he, " being the author of that poem 
to the glory of beating the French to-morrow." But he 
knew that he lived under the eye of Pitt and of his country. 
On the morning of the 13th of September, Wolfe with 
Murray and Monckton, and about half of his army, glided 
down with the tide, and stood ready for battle upon the 
Plains of Abraham. INIontcalm, stationed behind his in- 
trenchmeuts on the other side of the St. Charles, beheld 



224 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

with amazement the position of his enemy. " It can be 
but a small party," said he, " come to burn a few houses 
and retire." Later he exclaimed, " They have at last got 
to the weak side of this miserable garrison ; we must give 
battle, and crush them before midday." About ten o'clock, 
the two armies stood face to face ; and just before noon, the 
short but desperate conflict began; Wolfe and Montcalm 
both fell, mortally wounded. " Support me," said the former 
to an officer by his side ; "let not my brave fellows see me 
•drop." He was borne to the rear. " They run, they run ! " 
remarked the officer. " Who run ? " asked Wolfe. " The 
French give way everywhere." " What ! " exclaimed the 
dying hero, " do they run already ? Go, one of you, to 
Colonel Burton ; bid him march Webb's regiment, with all 
speed, to Charles River, to cut off the fugitives. Now, God 
be praised, I die happy." 

On another part of the field the brave and hopeful Mont- 
calm was struggling with death. " How long shall I sur- 
vive ? *' he asked of the surgeon. " Ten or twelve hours, 
perhaps less." " So much the better ; I shall not live to 
see the surrender of Quebec." To De Ramsay, who com- 
manded the garrison, and who asked his advice about defend- 
ing the city, he replied, " To your keeping I commend the 
honor of France. As for me, I shall pass the night with 
God, and prepare myself for death." At five the next morn- 
ing Montcalm expired. On the 17th of September, De 
Ramsay raised the white flag, and Quebec was surrendered. 
During the siege the English lost six hundred and sixty-four 
men, and the French lost nearly fifteen hundred.^ 

" The smiles of fortune were turned to frowns." The 

' Pouchot, Mems., ii. 131-150. Mante, 171-189. Mortimer, iii. 655-663. 
Warburton, ii. 171-220. Bancroft, iv. 32-t-338. Barry, ii. 236-239. 



THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 225 

fall of Montcalm, in the moment of his defeat, completed the 
victory, and the submission of Canada put an end to the 
dream of a French empire in America. In breaking through 
the line with which France had striven to check the west- 
ward advance of the English colonists, Pitt had uncon- 
sciously changed the history of the world. His support of 
Frederick and of Prussia was to lead in our own day to the 
creation of a United Germany. His conquest of Canada, 
by removing the enemy, whose dread knit the colonists to 
the mother country, and by flinging open to their energies 
in the days to come the boundless plains of the west, laid 
the foundation of the United States. Amherst closed the 
war, in the following year, by the reduction of Montreal ; 
and on the 9th of September, the Marquis de Vaudreuil 
■signed the capitulation which separated Canada from France 
forever. In 1763 peace was finally declared. To the Amer- 
icans this conquest was the stepping-stone to the revolution ; 
it trained up officers for the armies of Washington, and cre- 
ated soldiers for the defence of national freedom. 
29 



226 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE STAMP ACT. 

Chaeles Davenant, an English dramatist, born in 1656, 
thus prophesied two centuries ago : " As the case now 
stands, we shall show that the colonies are a spring of wealth 
to this nation ; that they work for us, that their treasure 
centres all here, and that the laws have tied them fast 
enough to us ; so that it must be through our own fault and 
misgovernment if they become independent of England. 
Corrupt governors may hereafter provoke them to withdraw 
their obedience, and by supine negligence or upon mistaken 
measures we may let them grow, more especially New Eng- 
land, in naval strength and power, which, if suffered, we 
cannot expect to hold them long in our subjection. If, as 
some have proposed, we should think to build ships of war 
there, we may teach them an art which will cost us soma 
blows to make them forget. Some such courses may, in- 
deed, drive them, or put it into their heads, to erect them- 
selves into independent commonwealths." ^ Many years 
before, Richard Hooker, the great light of English literature, 
had written, that " the lawful power of making laws to 
command whole political societies of men belongeth so 
properly unto the same entire societies, that for any prince 
or potentate, of what kind soever upon earth, to exercise 
the same of himself, and not either by express commission 

• Discourses, pt. ii. 204-205. 



THE STAMP ACT. 227 

immediately and personally received from God, or else author- 
ity received at first from their consent upon whose persons 
they impose laws, it is no better than mere tyranny." i 
To the correctness of this doctrine the colonists readily 
subscribed ; and believing that, as Englishmen and as men, 
they had rights which neither the king nor the Parliament 
could justifiably infringe, they now resolved to maintain the 
sanctity of these rights as a part of their own existence. 
England lost her colonies by her own mismanagement. A 
gigantic system of fraud and wrong was reared to such a 
height that the whole political fabric tottered under its 
weight, — and Revolution and Independence were the natu- 
ral results. 

The controversies with the crown, which had been waged 
under the administrations of Dudley, of Shute, of Burnet, 
and of Belcher, were continued under the administration of 
Shirley. This gentleman was a sworn defender of the royal 
prerogative, and was zealous in his oppression of the colo- 
nists. In 1749 he wrote to the Duke of Bedford, urging 
the erection of " fortresses, under the dkection of the king's 
engineers and officers," and that " a tax for their mainte- 
nance should be laid by Parliament upon the colonies." In 
this and in other ways he succeeded in poisoning the minds 
of the king's councillors, and in inflaming them against 
British subjects in America. On the 3d of March, 1749, a 
bill was brought into Parliament, providing for the enforce- 
ment of all the king's instructions in the colonies. By the 
foresight of wise men the bill was defeated. In the following 
year a committee in Parliament submitted a bill forbidding, 
" under a penalty of two hundred pounds, and declaring to 
be nuisances, the erection of mills for slitting or rolling iron, 

* Ecclesiastical Polity, bk. viii. 



228 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

or plating forges to work with a tilt-hammer, or furnaces 
for making steel." This bill also failed to pass. Meanwhile 
Shirley continued to enjoin the " necessity, not only of a 
Parliamentary union, but taxation ; " and in July, 1755, it 
was resolved to " raise funds for American affairs by a stamp 
duty, and a duty on products of the West Indies imported 
into the continental colonies." Upon hearing of these pro- 
ceedings, Massachusetts wrote to her agent in England, 
" Oppose everything that shall have the remotest tendency 
to raise a revenue in the plantations for any public uses or 
services of government." ^ It was not difficult to interpret 
the meaning of these words. If any apprehensions were 
entertained that the colonies would " in time throw off their 
dependency upon the mother country," Shirley was ready 
with his assurance that, " whilst his Majesty hath seven 
thousand troops kept up within them, with the Indians at 
command, it seems easy, provided his governors and principal 
officers are independent of the assemblies for their subsist- 
ence, and commonly vigilant, to prevent any step of that 
kind from being taken." ^ The signal was raised, and reso- 
lute lords were earnest to bring the people " into immediate 
subjection." 

In January, 1757, the project " to introduce a stamp duty 
on vellum and paper," was considered. It was urged upon 
Pitt, who, however, " scorned to take an unjust and ungen- 
erous advantage " of the colonies. This profession of the 
minister was exceedingly noble, and characteristic of the 
man ; and the people of Massachusetts felt assured that so 
long as he remained in office their liberties and rights would 
be kept inviolate- The legislature of the province, in 1759, 
imposed, of its own accord, a stamp tax upon vellum and 

» Gordon, Am. Kev., i. 95. » 1 M. H. Coll., vi. 129. 



THE STAMP ACT. 229 

paper, and also a " tax on personal estate of thirteen shillings 
and fourpence on the pound income, and a poll tax of nine- 
teen shillings on every male over sixteen." Governor Pow- 
nall, foreseeing the tendency of these measures, predicted 
the nearness of independence, and laid his complaints before 
the Board of Trade. The latter replied, " The dependence 
which the colony of Massachusetts ought to have upon the 
sovereignty of the crown stands on a very precarious footing ; 
and unless some effectual remedy be applied at a proper time, 
it will be in great danger of being totally lost." ^ 

Having thus preferred his grievances, Governor Pownall 
was transferred to South Carolina j and Francis Bernard, 
*' the most willing friend to the English church and to British 
authority," came from New Jersey to be the governor of 
Massachusetts. These continuous changes in the govern- 
ment planted distrust in the minds of the people. " These 
English," said they to one another, " will overturn every- 
thing. We must resist them, and. that by force." In his 
first address to the legislature, Bernard gave the latter to 
understand that " they derived blessings from their subjec- 
tion to Great Britain," and declared his intention to preserve 
the privileges secured by the charter. The legislature did 
not quite like the expression " subjection to Great Britain," 
and admitted only a " relation to Great Britain." At the 
same time the colonists professed loyalty to the English 
constitution. But such professions were not proof against 
the artful insinuations that their enemies were everywhere 
throwing out against them. " For all what you Americans 
say of your loyalty," remarked Charles Pratt, afterwards Earl 
of Camden, to Franklin, " I know you will one day throw 
off your dependence upon this country, and notwithstanding 

' Bancroft, iv. 297. 



230 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

9 

your boasted affection to it, will set up for independence." 
" No such idea," replied Franklin, " is entertained in the 
minds of the Americans ; and no such idea will ever enter 
their heads, unless you grossly abuse them." " Very true, 
that is one of the main causes I see will happen, and will 
produce the event." ^ 

While the work of abuse was going on, two political 
parties arose in the province, — the party of freedom and 
the party of prerogative. The former was the people's 
party ; the latter embraced such of the wealthier class as 
hung upon the royal favor. James Otis was the leader of 
the people's party, and was the champion of freedom. He 
was born at Barnstable, in 1725, was graduated from Har- 
vard College in 1743, and three years later began the prac- 
tice of the law in Plymouth. In 1748 he removed to Boston, 
where " the brilliancy of his talents and his reputation for 
integrity won for him an enviable fame." He it was who, 
" by his eloquence in opposition to the royalists, set the 
province in a flame." Associated with him, and equally 
devoted to their country's cause, were the elder Otis, one of 
the most distinguished politicians of his day ; Samuel Adams, 
"the father of the revolution," and a man "of steadfast 
integrity, exquisite humanity, genteel erudition, engaging 
manners, real as well as professed piety, and a universal good 
character ; " ^ Oxenbridge Thacher, a lawyer of great merit, 
a man of sagacity and patriotism, respected for learning, 
ability, purity of life, and moderation ; James Bowdoin, 
afterwards governor of Massachusetts ; and Thomas Gushing, 
a calm, yet earnest devotee to freedom. 

The leader of the royalist party was Thomas Hutchinson, 
a native of Massachusetts. From his first entrance into 

' Gordon, Am, Rev., i. 97. * John Adams Diary, in Works, ii. 163. 



THE STAMP ACT. 231 

public life he had been largely identified with the political, 
movements of his time, and had always been zealous in his 
support of the prerogative. A slave to a grasping ambition, 
a lover of money and of position, and influential because of 
his learning and experience, he sacrificed the better qualities 
of his nature, and became the flatterer of every one whom he 
imagined could forward his interests. He counted himself 
above his country, and hence subordinated his patriotism 
to his personal aggrandizement. As an author, he is worthy 
of the highest commendation ; and his " History of Massa- 
chusetts " is the best monument to his genius. Of this work 
he himself has written t " As Bishop Burnet, I desire to 
write the history of my own time. I shall paint characters 
as freely as he did, but it shall not be published while I 
live ; and I expect the same satisfaction, which I doubt not 
the bishop had, of being revenged of some of the r s (ras- 
cals). After I am dead, I wish you may have the pleasure 
of reading it." ^ By the "Letters," which Hutchinson 
wrote in the stormy days, and designed only for private 
circulation, but which were afterwards published, the glaring 
insincerity of the man was unmasked and his infamy exposed. 
Andrew Oliver, a brother-in-law of Hutchinson, and a man 
of the same principles ; Jeremiah Gridley, a lawyer at the 
head of his profession ; and Timothy Ruggles, distinguished 
for the boldness and strength of his thoughts, — were among 
the other noted men belonging to the party of the preroga- 
tive. 

In October, 1760, George III. ascended the English throne. 
For the first and last time, since the accession of the House 
of Hanover, England saw a king who was resolved to play 
a part in English politics. In ten years he reduced govern- 

* Hutchinson, Corresp., ii. ; Letter dated January 3, 1763. 



232 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ment to a shadow, and turned the loyalty of his subjects 
into disaffection. In twenty, he had forced the colonies of 
America into revolt and independence, and brought England 
to the brink of ruin. It would seem as if great men only 
could have accomplished such work as this ; but George III. 
had a smaller mind than any English king before him save 
James II. " Was there ever such stuff as Shakespeare ? " he 
once asked. His education was wretched, his taste was 
mean ; and yet he was clear as to his purpose, which was 
"to rule." Pitt was a friend to the colonists. The king 
longed for the time when " decrepitude or death " might put 
an end to Pitt ; and even when death had freed him from 
" this trumpet of sedition," he denounced the proposal for 
a public monument as " an offensive measure to me person- 
.ally." There was nothing in the character of the new 
.monarch calculated to inspire the hope that, under his reign, 
the affairs of the provinces would be less rigorously con- 
ducted. 

Scarcely had the tidings of the accession of George III. 
reached America, when an event transpired significant of 
the drama that was soon to open. In 1733 Parliament had 
levied a duty of sixpence per gallon upon all foreign 
molasses imported into the colonies. In case of forfeiture, 
" one third part went to the king for the use of the colony 
where the forfeiture was made, one third to the governor, 
and one third to the informer." Under this act many illegal 
abuses had been committed, and the whole conduct of the 
officers of customs was singularly odious. Finding that they 
were likely to be resisted in the execution of their duty, one 
of the officers petitioned the Superior Court for " Writs of 
Assistance." At the request of James Otis, a day in Feb- 
ruary, 1761, was fixed for a hearing ; and on this day Thomas 



THE STAMP ACT. 233 

Hutchinson, the chief justice, with his four associates, sat 
in the council chamber of the Old State House, in Boston, for 
the purpose of trying the cause. 

The case for the crown was argued by Jeremiah Gridley, 
the attorney-general. " The statutes of the 12th and 14th 
of Charles II," said he, " and the 6th of Anne allow Writs 
of Assistance to be issued by the English Court of Ex- 
chequer ; the colonial law of the 2d William III., chapter 
3, devolves the power of that court on the colonial Superior 
Court ; and the statutes of the 7th and 8th William III. 
confer upon colonial revenue officers the same powers as are 
exercised by the like officers in England. To refuse, there- 
fore, the Writ of Assistance, even if the common privileges 
of Englishmen are taken away by it, is to deny that the 
Parliament of Great Britain is the sovereign legislature of 
the British empire." ^ 

• The wise and learned Thacher rose to reply. " The 
material question which claims our attention," he argued, 
" is whether the practice of the Exchequer is good enough 
for this court. The court itself has renounced the chance 
of jurisdiction which the Exchequer had in cases where 
either party was the king's debtor ; and why depart in the 
present instance ? " ^ 

Then appeared James Otis for the people — the prophet 
of their greatness. " I am determined to my dying day " — 
such were his glowing words — "to oppose, with all the 
powers and faculties God has given me, all such instru- 
ments of slavery on the one hand, and villany on the other, 
as this Writ of Assistance is. I argue in favor of British 
liberties, at a time when we hear the greatest monarch upon 
earth declaring from his throne that he glories in the nam& 

^ Hutchinson, iii. 94. ' Minot, ii- 90. 

30 



234 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of Briton, and that the privileges of his people are dearer 
to him than the most valuable prerogatives of the crown. I 
oppose the kind of power, the exercise of which, in former 
periods of English history, cost one king of England his 
head, and another his throne. Let the consequences be what 
they will, I am determined to proceed, and to the call of my 
country am ready to sacrifice estate, ease, health, applause, 
and even life. The patriot and the hero will ever do thus ; 
and if brought to the trial, it will then be known how far 
I can reduce to practice principles which I know to be 
founded in truth. 

" Special writs may be legal ; and the Court of Exchequer 
may grant such, upon oath made before the Lord Treasurer 
by those who solicit them. The act of 14 Charles II. conclu- 
sively proves this. On this ground the, present writ, being 
general, is illegal. Every one, with this writ, may be a tyrant ; 
and if this commission be legal, a tyrant, in a legal manner, 
may also control, imprison, or murder any one within the 
realm. Again, the writ is perpetual. No return is to be 
made ; and he who executes it is responsible to no one for 
his doings. He may reign secure in his petty tyranny, and 
spread terror and desolation around him until the trump of 
the archangel shall excite different emotions in his soul. 
Besides, the writ is unlimited. The officer may enter all 
houses at will, and command all to assist him. Nay, even 
his menials may enforce its provisions. And what is this 
but to have the curse of Canaan, with a witness, upon us ? — 
to be the servant of servants, the most despicable of God's 
creation ? 

" The freedom of one's house is an essential branch of 
English liberty. A man's house is his castle ; and while he 
is quiet", he is as well guarded as his prince. This writ, if 



. THE STAMP ACT. 235 

declared legal, annihilates this privilege. Officers and their 
menials may enter our houses when they please, and we 
cannot resist them. Upon bare suspicion they may institute 
a search. And that this wanton exercise of power is no 
chimera facts fully prove. Reason and the constitution are 
both against this writ. The only authority that can be 
found for it is a law enacted in the zenith of arbitrary power, 
when Star Chamber abuses were pushed to extremity by 
some ignorant clerk of the Exchequer. But even if the 
writ could be elsewhere found, it would be illegal. No act 
of Parliament can establish such a writ. Though it should 
be made in the very words of the petition, it would be void ; 
for every act against the constitution is void." ^ 

For four hours the audience listened to this stream of 
eloquence from the lips of Otis. He " was a flame of fire," 
says the elder Adams ; " with a promptitude of classical 
allusions, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical 
events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic 
glance of his eyes into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impet- 
uous eloquence, he hurried away all before him. American 
independence was then and there born. Every man of an 
immense, crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as 
I did, ready to take up arms against Writs of Assistance." ^ 
Notwithstanding its impressive effect, the eloquence of Otis 
did not win the day. The cause was continued " to the next 
term ; " and in the mean time the plausible Hutchinson wrote 
to England for instructions. The answer came; "and the 
subservient court, obeying authority, and disregarding law, 
granted Writs of Assistance whenever the officers of the 
revenue applied for them." ^ 

' Minot, ii. 91-99, where the whole of the speech ia giren. 

* Allen, Biog. Diet., art. Otis. ' Bancroft, iv. 419. 



236 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

On the 5th of October, 1761, William Pitt, the " Great 
Commoner," and the greatest prime-minister of his century, 
resigned his office in the presence of King George. The 
Earl of Egremont became his successor. By this change 
the sovereign lost one whom he had always regarded as 
"a most imperious servant;" the people of America lost 
for a season the influence of a friend. A concurrence of 
events now ripened the colonial conflict with the crown. 
About this time, a bill making gold a legal tender was 
reported and passed in the House. • The governor's council- 
refused to acquiesce, and the House passed the bill again. 
The controversy upon the question, although of minor im- 
portance, again called forth the stirring energies of Otis. 
When the news arrived, at the close of the French war, 
that peace had been proclaimed, Mr. Otis thus declared the 
sentiments of Massachusetts : " We in America," said he, 
*' have certainly abundant reasons to rejoice. The heathen 
are not only driven out, but the Canadians, much more for- 
midable enemies, are conquered and become fellow-subjects. 
The British dominion and power may now be said, literally, 
to extend from sea to sea, and from the great river to the 
ends of the earth. And we may safely conclude, from his 
Majesty's wise administration hitherto, that liberty and 
knowledge, civil and religious, will be coextended, improved, 
and preserved to the latest posterity. No other constitution 
of civil government has yet appeared in the world so admi- 
rably adapted to these great purposes as that of Great Brit- 
ain. Every British subject in America is, of common right, 
by acts of Parliament, and by the laws of God and nature, 
entitled to all the essential privileges of Britons. By par- 
ticular charters there are peculiar privileges granted, as in 
justice they might and ought, in consideration of the arduous 



THE STAMP ACT. 237 

undertaking to begin so glorious an empire as British America 
is rising to. Tliese jealousies, that some weak and wicked 
minds have endeavored to infuse with regard to the colonies, 
had their birth in the blackness of darkness ; and it is 
great pity they had not remained there forever. The true 
interests of Great Britain and her plantations are mutual ; 
and what God in his providence has united, let no man dare 
attempt to pull asunder." ^ These loyal sentiments might 
long have continued unaltered, had it not been for the gross 
misconduct of the councillors of the king. 

At the close of the French war, the English debt amount- 
ed to one hundred and forty millions of pounds sterling ; 
and, in order to diminish this burden it was deemed "just 
and necessary that a revenue be raised in his Majesty's 
dominions in America for defraying the expenses of defend- 
ing, protecting, and securing the same." ^ In March, 1763, 
Charles Townshend, a leading member of the Board of 
Trade, introduced into the House of Commons a scheme for 
raising a revenue from the American plantations ; but the 
bill failed to pass. In the same month, and only a few days 
later, Grenville, who was resolved that the colonies should 
bear their share of the English burden, caused a bill to be 
brought in which provided that, " all officers of British ships 
of war stationed upon the American coast should act as 
officers of the customs, and receive a share of the cargoes 
confiscated for violation of the revenue laws." This bill 
passed the House, was agreed to by the Lords, and was 
finally approved by the king. In April, Grenville was 
place.d at the head of the treasury, and Egremont and Lord 
Halifax became the two secretaries of state. With these 
changes began the fierce struggle with America. Grenville 

' Hutchinson, iii. 101. * Bancroft, t. 32, 



238 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

was not an evil man at heart ; but his misguided sense of 
justice forced upon his ministry very many evil results. By 
relying wholly upon his own judgment he was led into error, 
from which, when discovered, he showed no inclination to 
extricate himself. 

In May, the Lords of Trade were consulted with reference 
to American affairs. Lord Egremont himself proposed the 
following questions : I. " What new governments should 
be established, and what form should be adopted for such 
new governments ? And where the capital or residence of 
each governor should be fixed?" IL "What military 
establishment will be sufficient? What new forts should 
be erected? And which, if any, may it be expedient to 
demolish?" III. "In what mode, least burdensome and 
most palatable to the colonies, can they contribute towards 
the support of the additional expense which must attend 
this civil and military establishment, upon the arrangement 
which your lordships shall propose?" ^ The Earl of Shel- 
burne stood at the head of the Board of Trade ; and in his 
reply he refused to implicate himself in the plans for taxing 
America. Although the response gave scant encouragement 
to the schemes of Townshend and Grenville and Egremont, 
these gentlemen were not intimidated. Before any definite 
scheme, however, could be agreed upon, Egremont died ; 
the Earl of Shelburne withdrew from his post, and the Earl 
of Hillsborough became his successor. A new ministry was 
also formed, with Grenville as lord treasurer. 

In September, Charles Jenkinson, the secretary of Bute, 
was directed to " write to the commissioners of the stamp 
duties, to prepare a draught of a bill to be presented to 

' Egremont to the Lords of Trade, 5 May, 1763, in Fitzmaurice, Life of 
Shelburne, i. 247, seq. 



THE STAMP ACT. 239 

Parliament for extending the stamp duties to the colonies." 
The secretary obeyed ; and on the 23d, the Stamp Act was 
draughted. Whether Grenville was the author of this odious 
measure, which the good sense of Walpole had rejected, or 
not, it matters but little. He, at least, "brought it into 
form," and by him it was deliberately sanctioned. He, at 
the same time, foresaw that such an act would not be rel- 
ished by the Americans ; he felt assured that some resistance 
would be made ; and, therefore, he next gave his attention to 
the best method of enforcing it. When orders were issued 
to the commander-in-chief in America, that his troops should 
" give their assistance to the officers of the revenue for the 
effectual suppression of contraband trade, and the news 
came that the plan of a stamp tax had again been proposed, 
the whole country was aroused. " My heart bleeds for 
America," exclaimed Whitefield. " O, poor New England, 
there is a deep laid plot against both your civil and religious 
liberties ; and they will be lost. Your golden days are at an 
end." 

In January, 1764, the General Court of Massachusetts 
exerted themselves to prevent the passage of the Stamp Act. 
But all that they could do, for the present, was merely to 
discuss the question, and await future developments. In 
March, Grenville renewed his scheme, and still adhered to 
his unjust policy. Jenkinson reported a bill, at his instance, 
providing for a duty of threepence per gallon on molasses, 
and an additional duty of twenty-two shillings per hundred 
weight on white sugars imported into the British colonies. 
It was agreed to by the Lords, and approved by the king. 

In America, there was " not a man on the continent who 
did not consider it a sacrifice made of the northern colonies 
to the superior interest in Parliament of the West Indies." 



240 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Even before its passage became known in Massachusetts, 
Samuel Adams, a Christian patriot and statesman, stood up 
in a town meeting held in Boston, and proposed a series of 
resolves, instructing its. representatives what course to pur- 
sue. " There is no room for delay," such are his words and 
those of Boston. " Those unexpected proceedings may be 
preparatory to more extensive taxation ; for if our trade may 
be taxed, why not our lands, and everything we possess? 
If taxes are laid upon us in any shape, without our having 
a legal representation where they are laid, are we not re- 
duced from the character of free subjects to the miserable 
state of tributary slaves ? This annihilates our charter right 
to govern and tax ourselves. We claim British rights, not 
by charter only ; we are born to them. Use your endeavors 
that the weight of the other North American colonies may 
be added* to that of this province, that by united application 
all may happily obtain redress." This was Boston's virtual 
denial of the right of the British Parliament to tax America.^ 
In about the same tone was written the new letter of in- 
structions which the General Court, in June, transmitted to 
Mr. Mauduit, its agent in England. 

Measures were now taken, and a special committee was 
appointed to correspond with the other colonies, and to urge 
upon them the necessity of a union to " prevent a Stamp 
Act, or any other impositions and taxes, upon this and the 
other American provinces." ^ These proceedings found no 
favor with Bernard and Hutchinson. The former suggested 
to the English ministry, that a complete reformation of the 
American governments was needed to secure tranquillity ; 
the latter, although censuring the recent " madness " of the 
Court, was gracious enough to inform the ministry that it 

• Bancroft, v. 197. * Hutchinson, iii. 110. Bancroft, v. 200. 



THE STAMP ACT. 241 

was " prejudicial to the national interest to impose Parlia- 
mentary taxes. The advantages promised by an increase 
of the revenue are all fallacious and delusive. You will 
lose more than you gain. Britain already reaps the profit 
of all their trade, and of the increase of their substance. By 
cherishing their present turn of mind you will serve your 
interest more than by your present schemes." ^ 

In October, the House went into a committee of the whole, 
and prepared an address to the king. Inasmuch as this 
address was displeasing to the Council, an address to the 
House of Commons, prepared in a much milder tone, was 
substituted. Its main purport was to solicit a continuance 
of the royal favor, and a withdrawal of all schemes for tax- 
ing the colonies. Hutchinson, wavering between patriotism 
and loyalty, between devotion to his country and servility 
to the crown, now concluded to side with the oppressors. 
Defying public opinion, he hoped for an elevation to the 
highest office in the province. Whatever evil he committed 
was wholly in secret. " I desire to avoid publicity," he 
wrote to a friend in England, '* and to do nothing out of 
character. . . . Whatever you do, I hope you will not let 
it be known that they come from me ! " ^ 

Meanwhile Grenville was as busy as ever. The addresses 
which had been received from Massachusetts, New York, 
and Virginia had produced a sensation in Parliament, and 
the ministry was resolved to urge its scheme of taxation 
*' upon the most general and acknowledged grounds of whig 
policy." At the opening of the session, the king presented 
the American question as one of " obedience to the laws 
and respect for the legislative authority of the kingdom." 
His words were echoed by the Lords and Commons, who 

> Bancroft, v. 208. " MS. Correspond., ii. 99. 

31 



242 . HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

declared their intention to proceed " with that temper and 
firmness which will best conciliate and insure due submission 
to the laws, and reverence to the legislative authority of 
Great Britain." J These proceedings flattered the feelings 
of the minister ; and on the 5th of February, 1765, fifty-five 
resolutions, embracing the details of the Stamp Act, were 
proposed to, and finally carried by, an overwhelming majority 
of the committee of ways and means. On the 27th the 
Stamp Act passed the House of Commons ; on the 8th of 
March it was agreed to by the Lords, " without having 
encountered an amendment, debate, protest, division, or 
single dissentient vote." In this sad moment for America, 
when the crown, the ministry, and the crown officers in the 
colonies were conspiring against her ' liberties, the king was 
"in great danger," — he was crazed.^ On the 22d the Act 
received the royal assent by a commission, the king himself 
being too " seriously ill " to sign it. Thus the Stamp Act 
was passed ; and Grenville, its chief supporter, paused and 
reflected upon the next step to be taken.^ 

When the tidings of these proceedings reached the colo- 
nies, great dissatisfaction was expressed. " This system, , 
if it is suffered to prevail," said Oxenbridge Thacher, " will 
extinguish the flame of liberty all over the world." " It is 



• Aikin's Anns, of George III., i. 39. Bancroft, v. 229. 

* Adolphus, Hist, of Eng., i. 175. 

^ In itself, there was nothing very bad about tlie law called the "Stamp 
Act." Englishmen would not have complained of it at home ; neither would 
the colonists have murmured, if it had not involved an important principle — 
the principle of "taxation without representation." Tlie act simply re- 
quired tliat all deeds and receipts, and other legal docimients, should be 
written or printed on stamped paper, and that tiiis paper should be sold by 
the tax collectors, the money going to the government. Taxes have since 
been imposed in a similar way in America. The excitement about the Stamp 
Act was virtually the beginning of the Revolutionary War. 



THE STAMP ACT. 243 

the duty of all," exclaimed Otis, " humbly and silently to 
acquiesce in all the decisions of the supreme legislature. 
Nine hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand of the colonists 
will never once entertain a thought but of submission to our 
sovereign, and to the authority of Parliament in all possible 
contingencies." " The Stamp Act," wrote Hutchinson, " is 
received among us with as much decency as could be ex- 
pected. Hitherto I have endeavored to state the case of 
the colonies in the most favorable light, always with sub- 
mission to the supreme authority. It is now become my 
duty, as an executive officer, to promote the execution of 
the Act, and to prevent any evasion, and I hope there will be 
as little room for complaint from this as from any colony." ^ 
On the 16th of June, Otis proposed, and the Legislature of 
Massachusetts voted, that it was expedient that there should 
be a " meeting, as soon as convenient, of committees from 
the Houses in the several colonies, to consult together on 
their present circumstances, and the difficulties to which 
they were and must be reduced by the operation of the late 
acts' of Parliament." A committee was appointed to prepare 
circular letters ; and the first Tuesday of October was named 
as the day for the meeting. The tories, or royalist party, 
sneered ; and the governor and Hutchinson severely censured 
these proceedings. Their opposition, however, proved of no 
consequence. 

It now became evident that Parliament was bent upon 
enforcing the Stamp Act to the very extreme. Already the 
Mutiny Act, with power to billet troops on private houses, 
had passed, and thus added one grievance to another. On 
the other hand, the colonists were determined to thwart the 
wishes of Parliament. The alarm bell had sounded, and 

' MS. Corresp., ii. 139. 



244 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

" the decree seemed to go forth that Boston should lead the 
way in the work of compulsion." ^ " I am now convinced," 
wrote Hutchinson again, " that the people throughout the 
colonies are impressed with an opinion that they are no 
longer considered by the people of England as their fellow- 
subjects, and entitled to English liberties ; and I expect 
some tragical event in some or other of the colonies, for we 
are not only in a deplorable situation at present, but have 
a dismal prospect before us as the commencement of the 
Act approaches. If there be no execution of it, all business 
must cease ; and yet the general view is, it cannot be car- 
ried into execution." ^ 

A change in the ministry again took place in England, and 
on the 8th of July, 1765, William Pitt was once more called 
to office. But Pitt stood almost alone. The silence of New- 
castle and the Rockingham party had estranged him from 
the only section of the whigs which could have acted with 
him, and the one friend who remained to him, his brother- 
in-law, Lord Temple, refused to aid in an attempt to con- 
struct a cabinet. The king, therefore, had no resource but 
to turn to the Marquis of Rockingham and the whig party 
which he headed. Rockingham became minister in July. 
When in September the tidings reached America, great joy 
was awakened. " If AstrsBa were not fled," said Mayhew, 
" there might be grounds for the hope." 

In the previous month the news had arrived that Pitt 
had been restored to power ; and such was the enthusiam 
of the " Sons of Liberty," that they resolved upon making 
some demonstration of their feelings. Andrew Oliver, the 
brother-in-law of Hutchinson, had been appointed stamp- 
distributor for Massachusetts. Reasonably enough, the peo» 

' Gage to Conway, Sept., 1765. ' MS. Corresp., ii. 145. 



THE STAMP ACT. 245 

pie cherislied for hiin no very high esteem, and in the intense 
madness of the hour, scrupled not to concert a plan to hang 
him in effigy. On the morning of the 14th of October, the 
inhabitants, who lived in the southern part of the town, 
saw, as they passed to their places of business, the " ^^gj 
of Oliver, tricked out with emblems of Bute and Grenville," 
suspended from the bough of a stately elm, long known as 
the " Liberty Tree," which stood near what was then the 
entrance to the town.^ Great was the excitement produced. 
The tidings of the grotesque spectacle spread like wildfire 
from ear to ear, and thousands assembled to gaze upon it. 
At length Hutchinson heard the news, and as chief justice, 
ordered the sheriff to remove the image. But the sheriff 
had not the courage to do so ; and the people said, " We 
will take it down ourselves at evening." 

Evening came, and the excitement was increased. The 
images were taken down, and placed upon a bier. Six men 
bore them through the main street, and halted immediately 
in front of the Old State House. The air was rent with loud 
vociferations. " Liberty, property, and no stamps ! " were 
the shouts which greeted the ears of the governor as he sat 
in the council chamber. The crowd moved on into Kilby 
Street, and there demolished a frame building, which it was 
supposed had been erected for a stamp office ; and then, 
gathering together the broken fragments, they kindled a 
bonfire upon Fort Hill, and reduced the images to ashes. 

The spirit of the people was fully aroused. " The Stamp 
Act shall never be executed here," said a patriotic townsman. 
" We will die on the place first. We will spend our last 

' This tree stood at the corner of what is now Essex and Washington 
Streets. The effigy itself was prepared by the mechanics of Boston. Drake, 
Hist, of Boston, 695. John Adams, Works, ii. 175. 



246 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

blood in the cause." " All the power of Great Britain 
shall not compel us to submit to it." Such were the excla- 
mations of the more courageous. A war with the mother 
country seemed inevitable ; and Mayhew wrote, " We have 
sixty thousand fighting men in this colony alone." Seized 
with terror, Hutchinson ordered the colonel of the militia 
to sound an alarm, and the troops to be mustered. " My 
drummers," replied the officer, " are in the mob." The 
chief justice himself was forced to flee, while the sheriff 
valiantly covered his retreat. An hour before midnight 
the multitude repaired to the governor's residence, and, after 
giving three cheers, dispersed quietly. 

Early the next morning, the governor and the chief jus- 
tice together discussed the proceeding of the previous night. 
" If Oliver had been found last night," said Bernard, " he 
would actually have been murdered." The stamp-distribu- 
tor thought so himself.. " We have a dismal prospect before 
us," remarked Hutchinson. The opinion generally prevailed 
that unless Oliver should resign, his house would be " pulled 
down about his ears." Thus opposed, Oliver profited by the 
lesson of the hour, and " gave it under his own hand " 
that he would no longer serve as stamp-officer. Another 
bonfire on Fort Hill celebrated the people's victory. The 
governor had already issued a proclamation, offering a re- 
ward for the discovery and arrest of the offenders. But no 
one seemed willing to act as a spy ; while wise men reasoned 
that " the .prisons would not hold them many hours." 

Not yet, however, was the voice of the people spent. 
" Let us hear frera Hutchinson," said the leaders, " from 
his own mouth, that he is not in favor of the Stamp Act, 
and we will be easy." On the 26th,' twelve days after 
Oliver had been hanged in effigy, another bonfire was kin- 



THE STAMP ACT 247 

died in front of the Old State House. A large crowd had 
assembled ; and pushing their way into the office of Mr. 
Story, the deputy registrar, they burnt all the records of 
the Vice Admiralty Court ; next they visited the office .of 
the Comptroller of the Customs, in Hanover Street; and 
finally, the residence of the hated Hutchinson. " He is 
a prerogative man." " He grasps at all the important offi- 
ces in the state ; he himself holds four, and his relations 
six or seven more." " He had a principal hand in pro- 
jecting the Stamp Act." Such were some of the reproaches 
which served to infuriate the mob. Hutchinson foresaw his 
peril, but was powerless to avert retribution ; the . crowd 
burst open the doors of his palatial residence in Garden 
Court Street, destroyed his furniture, scattered his books and 
plate, and at daybreak left his house a ruin. The chief 
justice and his family had barely enough time to escape with 
their lives. ^ 

On the following day the governor summoned his Coun- 
cil to a meeting ; but before this body met, the sober-minded 
inhabitants of Boston, having assembled in Faneuil Hall, 
declared their '* detestation of these violent proceedings," 
and pledged themselves to " suppress the like disorders for 
the future." Notwithstanding these resolutions, the whole 
continent applauded the proceedings of the 14th of August ; 
and all the officers of the crown were terror-stricken. In 
the midst of these disturbances, the news came that the 
Rockingham whigs had been elevated to power ; and the hope 
was expressed that the Stamp Act would now be repeaJed. 
At nearly the same time, the startling news reached Par- 
liament from America, that Congress had resolved on resist- 
ance, and its resolution had been followed by action. 

' Hutchinson, MS. Corresp., ii. 146. 



248 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

On the 25th of September the General Court convened. 
The governor, after alluding to the late proceedings in 
deprecating terms, said, " The right of the Parliament of ' 
Great Britain to make laws for the American colonies, how- 
ever it has been controverted in America, remains indispu- 
table at Westminster. Is it in the will, or in the power, or 
for the interest of this province, to oppose such authority ? 
If such opposition should be made, may it not bring on a 
contest, which may prove the most detrimental and ruinous 
event which could happen to this people ? " The governor 
concluded, saying, " I would not willingly aggravate the 
dangers which are before you. I do not think it very easy 
to do it ; this province seems to me to be on the brink of 
a precipice ; it depends upon you to prevent its falling. 
From this time, this arduous business of executing the 
Stamp Act will be put into your hands, and it will become 
a provincial concern." The governor advised them to ac- 
quaint themselves with the exigencies of the times ; and for 
this purpose he proposed to give them a recess. The House, 
however, would ask for no recess ; and the governor, there- 
fore, on the 27th, adjourned the Court to the last week in 

< 
October. . 

" There is a snake in the grass," said the people of Bos- 
ton ; " touch not the unclean thing." And about the same 
time John Adams, of Braintree, declared through the 
medium of the press, " There seems to be a direct and 
formal design on foot in Great Britain to enslave all Amer- 
ica. Be it remembered, liberty must at all hazards be de- 
fended. Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and 
trustees for the peoj)le ; and if the trust is insidiously be- 
trayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to 
revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed, and 



THE STAMP ACT. 249 

to constitute abler and better agents. We have an indis- 
putable right to demand our privileges against all the power 
and authority on earth." ^ On the 24th of September, his 
native town passed a series of resolves, whose spirit rang 
through the whole province. At least forty towns adopted 
them, in substance, before the month had closed. Boston 
had already spoken its abhorrence of the Stamp Act, and 
elected Samuel Adams as its representative in the place 
made vacant by the death of Thacher. When in October, 
the Court met after its adjoururaent, a series of resolves, 
fourteen in number, was passed, and was ordered "to be 
kept in the records of this House, that a just sense of liberty 
and the firm sentiments of loyalty may be transmitted to 
posterity." ^ 

In the early part of the month a congress of delegates 
from the different provinces assembled in New York. The 
brave Gadsden was there from South Carolina, and Rut- 
ledge, his eloquent constituent. There also were the rep- 
resentatives from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Massachusetts. On the 7th, resolutions 
"based on the inalienable rights of man," were "passed, and 
an address to the king, a memorial to the House of Lords, 
and a petition to the House of Commons, were draughted 
and signed. While claiming an exemption from all taxes, 
except such as were imposed by the severaL colonial legis- 
latures, the memorialists affirmed that they " esteemed their 
connection with, and dependence on Great Britain, as one 
of their greatest blessings, and apprehended the latter would 
appear to be sufficiently secui'e when it was considered that 
the inhabitants in the colonies had the most unbounded 
affection for his Majesty's person, family, and government, as 

' Bancroft, v. 325. * Mass. Gazette, for Oct. 31 and Nov. 14, 1765. 

32 



250 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

well as for the mother country, and that their subordina- 
tion to Parliament was universally acknowledged." ^ • 

Meanwhile the British ministry had heard of the " riots " 
in Massachusetts and elsewhere ; and on the 24th of Octo- 
ber had sent orders to the American governors, and to Gen- 
eral Gage, to use " the utmost prudence and lenity." On 
the 1st of November, the church bells in Boston tolled the 
knell of the Stamp Act, and every man was determined to 
prevent its enforcement. Grenville was hupg in ^'^g'^ upon 
the Liberty Tree in the early morning. The utmost har- 
mony and good feeling, however, prevailed. On the 17th of 
December, Oliver formally resigned his office as distributor 
of stamps ; and on the following day, at a town meeting 
held in Boston, two hundred of the principal merchants 
agreed to import no more goods from England unless the 
Stamp Act should be repealed, and countermanded the orders 
already sent abroad. Thus closed the year 1765, — a year 
which, wrote John Adams, " brings ruin or salvation to the 
British colonies. The eyes of all America are fixed on the 
British Parliament. In short, Britain and America are 
staring at each other ; and they will probably stare more and 
more for some time." ^ 

But already the question of repeal was being debated in 
England. Grenville had been summoned to St. James' to 
surrender the seals of his office ; and out of the remnants 
of the old whig aristocracy and their successors a ncAV ad- 
ministration had been formed. In place of Grenville, the 
Marquis of Rockingham now stood at the head of the 
treasury j the Duke of Grafton controlled the seals of the 
northern department of state, while those of the southern 
department were conferred on General Conway, a man who 

» Barry, ii. 305. * Works, ii. 170. 



THE STAMP ACT. 251 

•was so " fond of doing right, that the time for doing it 
passed' before he could settle what it was." The young 
Earl of Dartmouth, distinguished only for his piety, became 
President of the Board of Trade. On the 14th of January 
Parliament reassembled, and was informed by the king that 
" matters of importance had happened in America, and orders 
been issued for the support of lawful authority." The Lords 
agreed to " assert and support the king's dignity ; " but 
several of the Commons were very tender in their expres- 
sions respecting America. While the most memorable debate 
in the annals of England was in progress, William Pitt un- 
expectedly entered the House of Commons. Mr. Nugent 
(Lord Clare) had delivered his address in favor of the Stamp 
Act, and Edmund Burke had followed with his maiden 
speech.^ Then Pitt arose, and whilst all eyes were directed 
towards his venerable aspect, he began one of those bril- 
liant harangues which distinguished him as the most pow- 
erful orator of his day. 

He approved the address in answer to the king's speech ; 
he condemned " every capital measure " of the late minis- 
try ; he refused his confidence to the present administration. 
He then continued : " It is a long time since I have at- 
tended in Parliament. When the, resolution was taken in 
the House to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could 
have endured to haye been carried in my bed, so great was 
the agitation of my mind for the consequences, I would have 
solicited some kind hand to have laid me on this floor, to 
have borne my testimony against it. It is now an act that 
has passed. I would speak with decency of every act of 
this House ; but I must beg the indulgence of the House to 

' Lord Mahon, Hist, of Eng., v. 130. Bancroft says that Burke's maiden 
speech was not delivered until a later day. 



252 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

speak of it with freedom. As I cannot depend upon health 
for any future day, such is the nature of my infirmities, I 
will beg to say a few words at present, leaving the jus- 
tice, the equity, the policy, the expediency of the Act to 
another time. Some gentlemen " — alluding to Mr. Nugent 
— " seem to have considered it as a point of honor. If 
gentlemen consider it in that light, they leave all measures 
of right and wrong, to follow a delusion that may lead to 
destruction. It is my opinion that this kingdom has no 
right to lay a tax upon the colonies — to be sovereign and 
supreme in every circumstance of government and legisla- 
tion whatsoever. They are the subjects of this kingdom, 
equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of 
mankind and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen, equally 
bound by its laws, and equally participating of the consti- 
tution of this free country. 

" The Americans are the sons, not the bastards, of Eng- 
land. Taxation is no part of the governing or legislative 
power. The taxes are a voluntary gift and grant of the 
Commons alone. There is an idea in some that the colonies 
are virtually represented in this House. I would fain know 
by whom an American is represented here. Is he repre- 
sented by any knight of the shire in any county in this 
kingdom ? Would to God that respectable representation 
was augmented to a greater number. Or, will you tell him 
that he is represented by any representative of a borough 
— a borough which, perhaps, no man ever saw ? This is 
what is called the rotten part of the constitution. It can- 
not continue a century. If it does not drop, it must be 
amputated. The idea of a virtual representation of Amer- 
ica in this House is the most contemptible idea that ever 



THE STAMP ACT. 253 

entered into tlie head of man. It does not deserve a seri- 
ous refutation." 

General Conway concurred fully -with the views of Pitt. 
Then Grenville arose. " When I proposed to tax Amer- 
ica," said he, "I asked the House if any gentleman would 
object to the right. I repeatedly asked it, and no man 
would attempt to deny it. Protection and obedience are 
reciprocal. Great Britain protects America ; America is 
bound to yield obedience. If not, tell me when these Amer- 
icans were emancipated. When they want the protection 
of this kingdom, they are always very ready to ask it. 
That protection has always been afforded them in the most 
full and ample manner. The nation has run itself into an 
immense debt to give them their protection ; and now they 
are called upon to contribute a small share towards the pub- 
lic expense, an expense arising from themselves, they re- 
nounce your authority, insult your officers, and break out, 
I might almost say, into open rebellion." 

" The gentleman tells us," exclaimed Pitt, by the indul- 
gence of the House, " America is obstinate, America is 
almost in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted. 
Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings of 
liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have 
been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest. With 
the enemy at their back, with our bayonets at their 
breasts, in the day of their distress, perhaps the Amer- 
icans would have submitted to the imposition ; but it would 
have been taking an ungenerous and unjust advantage. I 
am no courtier of America ; I stand up for this kingdom. 
I maintain that the Parliament has a right to bind, to re- 
strain, America. Our legislative power over the colonies is 
sovereign and supreme. When it ceases to be sovereign and 



254 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

supreme, I would advise every gentleman to sell his lands, 
if he can, and embark for that country. When two coun- 
tries are connected tegether, like England and her colonies, 
without being incorporated, the one must necessarily gov- 
ern ; the greater must rule the less ; but so rule it as not 
to contradict the fundamental principles that are common 
to both. 

" Upon the whole, I will beg leave to tell the House 
what is really my opinion. It is, that the Stamp Act be 
repealed — absolutely, totally, and immediately ; that the 
reason for the repeal be assigned — because it was found- 
ed on an erroneous principle. At the same time, let the 
sovereign authority of this country over the colonies be 
asserted in as strong terms as can be assigned, and be made 
to extend to every point of legislation whatsoever, — that 
we may bind their trade, confine their manufactures, and 
exercise every power whatsoever except that of taking their 
money out of their pockets without their consent." 

Thus closed the debate, and the flaming words of Pitt 
fixed at once the minds of the wavering. In the latter part 
of the month the House resolved itself into a committee of 
the whole. Before this committee Benjamin Franklin ap- 
peared; and his examination was creditable alike to his 
talent and his character. " The American people," said he, 
" will never submit to this Act, 'unless compelled by force 
of arms. Before this Act passed, the temper of that people 
cowards Great Britain was" the best in the world. They 
Tsubmitted willingly to the government of the crown, and 
paid in their courts obedience to the acts of Parliament. 
Natives of Britain were always treated with particular re- 
gard. To be an Old England man was of itself a character 
of respect, and gave a kind of rank among us. If the Act 



THE STAMP ACT. 255 

is not repealed, I foresee a total loss of the respect and 
affection the people of America bear to this country, and of 
all the commerce that depends on that respect and affec- 
tion. People will pay as freely to gratify one passion as 
another, — their resentment as their pride. «They will pa}' 
no internal tax, but requisitions may be granted on appli- 
cation in the usual form. They will never repeal the res- 
olutions which have been passed in their assemblies, and 
acknowledge the right of Parliament to lay internal taxes. 
No power, how great soever, can force them to change their 
opinions. And whereas it was once the pride of the peo- 
ple of America to indulge in the fashions and manufactures 
of Great Britain, it is now their pride to wear their old 
clothes over again, until they can make new ones.'- ^ 

At haif past one on the morning of the 22d of February, 
after a long and stormy debate, a division of opinion took 
place in the House of Commons. In the course of the de- 
bate. General Conway had moved leave to bring in a bill 
for the repeal of the American Stamp Act, on the grounds 
that it was proving injurious as much to the kingdom as to 
the colonies. Conway's motion was carried by a vote of two 

' Bigelow, Life of Franklin, i. 467-510 where may be found the entire ex- 
amination, copied from the Journal of the House of Commons. "From this 
examination of Dr. Franklin, the reader may form a clearer and more com- 
prehensive idea of the state and disposition of America, of the expediency or 
inexpediency of the measure in question, and of the character and conduct 
of the minister who proposed it, than from all that has been written upon the 
subject in newspapers and pamphlets, under the titles of essays, letters, 
speeches, and considerations, from the first moment of its becoming the 
object of public attention till now. The questions in general are put with 
great subtilty and judgment, and they are answered with such deep and 
familiar knowledge of the subject, such precision and perspicuity, such tem- 
per, and yet such spirit, as do the greatest honor to Dr. Franklin, and justify 
the general opinion of his character and abilities." — Gentleman's Mag., July, 
1767. Franklin was in England, at this time, as the agent of Pennsylvania. 



256 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

hundred and seventy-five against one hundred and sixty- 
seven. 

The roof of St. Stephen's rung with the loud applause of 
the victorious majority. The pure-minded Conway enjoyed 
a triumph. When Pitt stepped forth from the House, he 
was greeted by a large crowd, who, with uncovered heads, 
followed him homeward. Only hisses were showered upon 
Grenville, who swelled with rage and mortification. On the 
4th of March, at midnight, the question was disposed of in 
the House of Commons, by a vote of two hundred and fifty 
against one hundred and twenty-two ; and in the House of 
Lords, thirteen days later, it was carried by a majority of 
thirty-four. On the 18th the repeal of the Stamp Act was 
sanctioned by the king. To their honor,, let it be said, the 
people of England entered fully into the spirit of the occa- 
sion. Grenville was defeated, and freedom had triumphed. 
" I rejoice," said Robertson, the illustrious historian, "from 
my love of the human species, that a million of men in Amer- 
ica have some chance of running the same great career which 
other free people have held before them. I do not appre- 
hend revolution or independence sooner than these must and 
should come." ^ 

' History of America. 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 257 



CHAPTER XII. 
MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PRO^^NCE. 

The repeal of the Stamp Act " hushed into silence almost 
every popular clamor, and composed every wave of popular 
disorder into a smooth and peaceful calm." ^ A special 
day was appointed for the rejoicings of the people of Massa- 
chusetts. In Boston, Liberty T;?ee was the centre of attrac- 
tion, and thither at an early hour in the morning of the 19th 
of May a vast multitude was summoned by the ringing of 
bells and the booming of cannon. In the evening the town 
was illuminated, and images of the king, of Pitt, of Cam- 
den, and of Barr^ were exhibited in the houses. 

Meanwhile affairs in the mother country were in an unset- 
tled condition, and various adverse circumstances necessitated 
a change in the ministry. In July, the Marquis of Rocking- 
ham having proven his unfitness for office, an invitation was 
again extended to Pitt to return to the cabinet. The latter 
accepted the invitation. Pitt became chief minister, the Duke 
of Grafton the head of the treasury, Charles Townshend was 
appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and General Con- 
way was continued secretary of state, with the Earl of Shel- 
burne as his colleague. " If ever a cabinet," wrote Durand 
to Choiseul, " can hope for the rare privilege of unanimity, 
it is this, in which Pitt will see none but persons whose im- 
agination he has subjugated, whose premature advancement 

' J. Adams, in "Works, ii. 203. 

33 



258 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

is due to liis choice, whose expectations of permanent fortune 
rest on him alone." ^ Shortly afterwards the " Great Com- 
moner " signified a desire to be raised to the peerage ; the 
king, in compliance, created him Earl of Chatham, and from 
this i^eriod his influence at court began to wane, and his name 
to be less respected abroad. For a while his acceptance of 
the earldom of Chatham ruined the confidence which his 
reputation for unselfishness had aided him to win. But it 
was from no vulgar ambition that Pitt laid down his title 
of the Great Commoner. It was the consciousness of failing 
strength which made him dread the storms of debate ; and 
in a few short months the dread became a certainty. A 
painful and overwhelming illness, the result of nervous dis- 
organization, withdrew him from public affairs ; and his with- 
drawal robbed his colleagues of all vigor or union. 

Notwithstanding that "every newspaper and pamphlet, 
every public and private letter, which arrived in America 
from England, seemed to breathe a spirit of benevolence, 
tenderness, and generosity," the people of ]\Iassachusetts 
continued to suspect the selfish intentions of the king.^ The 
Stamp Act had been repealed ; but the oppressive laws of 
trade still remained in force. In December, 1766, the Gen- 
eral Court appointed committees to " consider the difficulties 
which embarrassed the commerce of the country, and to pro- 
pose measures for remedying these evils." 

Still another storm was brewing in England. Everybody 
was thirsting for office, and patriotism was being merged in 
selfishness. Pitt had been forced by illness to withdraw from 
hig post ; the cabinet was divided, and a deadly jealousy was 
kindled. " Such a state of affairs," wrote Chesterfield, 
" was never seen before, in this or in any other country." 

* Bancroft, vi. 22. - Adams, in Works, ii. 203. 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 259 

" Never," said Lord Charlemont, " was known such dis- 
union, such a want of concert, as visibly apjffears on both 
sides." Townshend assumed great importance, and in the 
House of Commons declared that " the government had 
become what he himself had been often called — a weather- 
cock." In January, 1767, he promised soon to find means 
for raising a revenue from America. " I am still," he said, 
" a firm advocate for the Stamp Act, for its principle, and 
for the duty. I laugh at the distinction between internal 
and external taxes. I know no such distinction. It is per- 
fect nonsense." In concluding his address, he exclaimed, 
" England is undone, if this taxation in America is given 
up." Even Camden, who had hitherto maintained that 
taxation and representation are inseparable, affirmed that 
his " doubt respecting the right of Parliament to tax Amer- 
ica was removed by the declaration of Parliament itself, and 
that its authority must be maintained." ^ 

These and other proceedings confirmed to the people of 
America the justice of their cause. The Earl of Shelburne, 
however, as secretar}^ for the southern department, assured 
the people the}^ " might be perfectly easy about the enjoy- 
ment of their rights and privileges under the present admin- 
istration ; " and at once began, to consider the American 
question, and to prepare for its solution. Shelburne was an 
honest and well-meaning statesman, and the schemes which 
he proposed might have allayed the excitement in the colo- 
nies had his colleagues approved of them. It was plain to 
see that he was more a " friend " to America than his 
associates wished him to be ; and as such they watched him. 
About this time, Choiseul, the minister of Fi-ance at the 
court of St. James, was secretly investigating the condition 

* Chatham Corresp., iii. 136-185. Mahon, Hist, of Eng., v. ISO. 



260 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of the colonies. By his orders, De Kalb, an officer of Ger- 
man extraction, came to America to discover whether there 
was any prospect of a revolt. He found, however, that 
nothing of the sort was as yet premeditated. ^ 

Townshend had said that he would find means for raising 
a revenue from America ; and Grenville now proposed that 
he should fulfil his pledge. Accordingly in May, 1767, the 
chancellor came forward with his scheme, and proposed a 
tax on glass, paper, painters' colors, and tea, to be paid as 
impost duties. Wise men foretold the evils that would re- 
sult from the enforcement of such a bill. But in vain. On 
the 29th of June the Revenue Bill passed both Houses, and 
was signed by the king. " It had ever been uniformly 
acknowledged," says a writer, " that Great Britain possessed 
the right of commercial regulation and control ; it could not 
be denied that port duties had been at former periods im- 
posed for the purpose of commercial regulation. It could 
not be pretended, with consistency and plausibility, that the 
same power did not now inhere in the British Parliament ; 
but it was at the same time impossible not to discern that 
this power was, in the present instance, exercised with a very 
different intention, and for the accomplishment of a very 
different object ; and that by a species of artifice unworthy 
of a great nation, an attempt was now made to inveigle them 
into the payment of that revenue which could not be ex- 
torted by means more direct and unequivocal." ^ The 
opinion was general, particularly in America, that Town- 
shend's scheme of taxation was more subversive of the rights 
of the colonies than was the Stamp Act. 

" The die is thrown, — the Rubicon is passed," exclaimed 
the people of Massachusetts, when the news reached Boston. 

' Kapp, Leben des Johann Kalb. * Belsham, George III., i. 204. 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 261 

" Our strength consists in union," wrote Mauduit. " Let 
us, above all, be of one heart and of one mind. Let us call 
on our sister colonies to join with us in asserting our rights. 
If our opposition to slavery is called rebellion, let us pursue 
duty with firmness, and leave the event to Heaven." Whilst 
the late proceedings were being thus abhorred, Townshend 
died, and in September, Lord North, the eldest son of the 
Earl of Guilford, was appointed to his place. 

It soon became apparent that the ministry was preparing 
to enforce the new Act ; and erelong, letters arrived from 
the friends of American liberty in Europe, stating that it 
was the intention of the administration to cause the authors 
of the riots and the writers of " seditious pieces," to be 
arrested and sent to England, to be tried for high treason. 
Popular fury was again inflamed. The public prints of the 
day teemed with essays written in the boldest language, but 
all of them breathing the same spirit, and tending to rouse 
the indignation of Americans at the measures of the British 
cabinet. " We Americans have a righteous cause," wrote 
Josiah Quincy, Junior. "We know it. The power of Great 
Britain may oppress, nay, for a time apparently subdue us. 
But, before all the freeborn sons of the north will yield a 
general and united submission to any tyrannic power on 
earth, fire and sword, famine and slaughter, desolation and 
ruin, will ravage the land." ^ 

At length the crisis arrived. On the 28th of October the 
inhabitants of Boston, in town meeting assembled, voted to 
dispense with a large number of articles of British manufac- 
ture. The majority of the other towns in the province like- 
wise subscribed to these resolves. In December the last 
change in the British ministry took place. A new depart- 

* J. Quincy, Mem. of J. Quincy, Jr., 12. 



262 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ment, having the charge of the colonies, was created, and 
Lord Hillsborough was made its secretary. No other change 
of any importance was made ; and the members of the min- 
istry were almost unanimous in the opinion that the authority 
of Parliament must be maintained in the colonies. 

Hillsborough was no friend to America, and early gave a 
proof of his hostility. To Hutchinson he granted a pension 
of two hundred pounds, "to be paid annually by the com- 
missioners of customs." " If such acts are continued," said 
the Bostonians, " we shall be obliged to maintain in luxury 
sycophants, court parasites, and hungry dependents, who will 
be sent over to watch and oppress those who oppose them. 
The governors will be men rewarded for despicable services, 
hackneyed in deceit and avarice, or some noble scoundrel who 
has spent his fortune in every kind of debauchery." ^ At 
this juncture Samuel Adams drew up a remonstrance against 
the Revenue Act, to be sent by the province to England. 
" Seven times this letter was revised ; every word was 
weighed, every sentence considered, each seemingly harsh 
sentence was tempered and refined." The House of Repre- 
sentatives sanctioned this document, and copies of it were 
sent to each of the ministers. 

At such a time the governor was not in sympathy with 
the people ; on the contrary, the former was constantly fur- 
nishing grounds for fresh accusations. On the 4th of March 
he dared to reprove the legislature ; and of some of the mem- 
bers he spoke in terms of the bitterest contempt. " These 
are the men," said he, "to whose importance everlasting 
contention is necessary. Time and experience will soon pull 
the mask off these false patriots, who are sacrificing their 
country to the gratification of their own passions." Mean- 

* Bancroft, vi. 117. 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 263 

while the Massachusetts circular had reached England, and 
was at once denounced as of a " most dangerous and factious 
tendency, calculated to inflame the minds of his Majesty's 
good subjects in the colonies." About the same time private 
letters were passing between Hillsborough and Bernard, the 
governor. The latter wished to become an informer against 
the province, under a pledge of secrecy. Hutchinson united 
with him in defaming the public honor. "It only needs," 
he wrote, " one steady plan pursued a little while, and 
success is sure." The British secretary of state was pleased 
by such suggestions, and signified his readiness to comply, 
by ordering a regiment to Boston, to be permanently quar- 
tered there, and by directing the admiralty to send one 
frigate and four smaller vessels to be stationed in Boston 
harbor. 

Early in the summer of 1768 the commander of the " R.om- 
ney " British man-of-war anchored off in the channel, under 
the pretence that he was in want of men, ventured to im- 
press a number of seamen belonging to New England. An 
attempt was made to secure the release of the seamen by 
offering substitutes. But the captain refused to listen to 
any such proposition, and declared, " No man shall go out 
of this vessel. The town is a blackguard towu — ruled by 
mobs. They have begun with me by rescuing a man whom 
I pressed this morning ; and by the eternal God, I will make 
their hearts ache before I leave it." On the same day, — 
the 10th of June, — at about sunset, the sloop " Liberty," 
belonging to John Hancock, one of the wealthiest of the 
Boston patriots, was seized for an alleged false entry, and 
prepai^ations were being made to remove her alongside of 
the Romne}'. Malcom, a trader, advised the revenue officers 
to permit the vessel to lie at the wharf; but Hallo well, the 



264 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

comptroller, replied, "I shall not," and immediately gave 
orders to cut the fasts. " Stop till the owner comes," shouted 
the crowd. " I'll split the brains of any man that offers to 
reeve a fast, or stop the vessel! " exclaimed the master of 
the Romney; and then, turning to the marines, he com- 
manded them to fire. The latter, however, dared not fire. 
The people were exasperated by such conduct. Hancock, 
Warren, and Samuel Adams met, and questioned what should 
be done ; and an hour before midnight went forth the 
order — "Each man to his tent." 

On the 1-lth the " Sons of Liberty " assembled in the 
space around Liberty Tree, and a chairman was chosen. At 
three o'clock a legal meeting was called by the selectmen, 
in the meeting-house of the Old South Church. Otis was 
chosen moderator, and was " ushered into the hall by an 
almost universal clap of hands." An address to the gover- 
nor was voted, and a committee of twenty-one was appointed 
to present it. On the following day Otis delivered a 
speech, in which he advised the preservation of order, and 
expressed the hope that present grievances might soon be 
redressed. " If not," he added, " and we are called on to 
defend our liberties and privileges, I hope and believe Ave 
shall, one and all, resist even unto blood. But I pray God 
Almighty that this may never so happen." The committee 
appointed to present the address was received by the gov- 
ernor with marked obsequiousness. In his reply, the latter 
said, " I shall think myself most highly honored if I can be, 
in the lowest degree, an instrument in procuring a perfect 
reconciliation between you and the parent state." Sucli 
professions, however, were only false ; and matters progressed 
daily from bad to worse. Massachusetts had been ordered 
to rescind her resolutions against importing goods from 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 265 

England ; but the legislature, almost with one voice, refused 
to comply with the royal mandate. On the 2d of July, 
the governor, in accordance with his instruction, dissolved 
the Court ; and thus Massachusetts was without a legislature, 
and the liberties of her people were at stake. 

The struggle was now fairly opened. The conduct of 
Massachusetts was the theme of discussion everywhere on 
the continent, from London to Madrid. " When rebellion 
begins," said Lord Mansfield, " the laws cease. The Amer- 
icans must first be compelled to submit to the authority of 
Parliament ; and it is only after having reduced them to the 
most entire obedience that an inquiry can be made into 
their real or pretended grievances." Camden was alarmed, 
" because the colonies were more sober, and consequently 
more determined, in the present opposition than they were 
upon the Stamp Act." " What, then, is to be done ? " asked 
Grafton. " Indeed, my lord, I do not know," was the for- 
mer's reply. " Parliament cannot repeal the Revenue Act, 
for that would admit the American principle to be right, 
and their own doctrine erroneous. The law must be exe- 
cuted ; but how it shall be executed, I cannot say. Boston 
is the ringieading province ; and if any country is to be 
chastised, the punishment should be levelled there." In 
Boston, the spirit of freedom told plainly how the law would 
have to be executed. " We will never become slaves," said 
Samuel Adams. " We will submit to no tax. We will 
take up arms, and shed our last drop of blood, before the 
king and the Parliament shall impose on us, or settle crown 
ofi&cers, independent of the colonial legislature, to dragoon 
us." 

It had long been wliispered that the king had resolved on 
quartering his regulars in Boston ; to protest against which, 
34 



266 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and against the clanger to " the liberties of America from a 
united body of pensioners and soldiers," several town-meet- 
ings had been called. At length all fears were realized. On 
the 28th of September a squadron of seven armed vessels 
anchored off Nantasket. Three days later, three regiments 
of king's troops, armed with fixed bayonets, stepped upon 
Long Wharf. With the beat of drums and the flying of 
colors they marched thence to the Common. That night, 
the air being chill, the troops were sheltered in Faneuil .Hall. 
" I have got possession of the School of Liberty, and thereby 
secured all their arms. I will keep possession of this town, 
where faction seems to prevail beyond conception," was the 
triumphant boast of Dalrymple, the commander. It was not 
difficult for him to carry out this threat, for there was no 
one then to oppose him. General Gage soon arrived in 
Boston, and demanded quarters for his Irish regiments. 
" The barracks are not yet fiUed," was the reply ; " and we 
are under no obligations to make further provisions until the 
law has been complied with." The governor endeavored to 
procure suitable quarters on his own responsibility, but with- 
out success. "I am at the end of my tether," said he, in 
disgust. " I can do no more." He thus left Gage to shift 
for himself. 

Before the season had closed, military despotism was estab- 
lished in the province. Boston was a garrisoned town, and 
the liberties of the people were at the mercy of a hireling 
soldiery. " My daily reflections for two years," wrote John 
Adams, afterwards, " at the sight of those soldiers before 
my door, were serious enough. Their very appearance in 
Boston was a strong proof to me that the determination of 
Great Britain to subjugate us was too deep and inveterate 
ever to be altered by us ; for everything we could do was 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 267 

misrepresented, and nothing we could say was credited." ^ 
It was trying times for the Sous of Liberty, but enough wise 
and prudent men there were to evolve from them beneficial 
and lasting results. " O, my countrymen," wrote Josiah 
Quincy, Jr., " what will our children say, when they read 
the history of these times, should they find we tamely gave 
away, without one noble struggle, the most invaluable of 
earthly blessings ? As they drag the galling chain, will they 
not execrate us ? If we have any respect for things sacred ; 
any regard to the dearest treasure on earth; if we have 
any tender sentiment for posterity; if we would not be 
despised by the whole world, let us in the most open, sol- 
emn manner, and with determined fortitude, swear, — we 
will die, if we cannot live freemen ! " ^ 

In his speech at the opening of Parliament the king railed 
at " the spirit of faction," which he affirmed, had broken out 
" afresh in some of the colonies." " With your concurrence 
and support," he added, " I shall be able to defeat the mis- 
chievous designs of those turbulent and seditious persons, 
who, under false pretences, have but too successfully deluded 
numbers of my subjects in America, and whose practices, 
if suffered to prevail, cannot fail to produce the most fatal 
consequences to my colonies immediately, and in the end, to 
all the dominions of my crown." A warm debate followed; 
and several entertained the opinion that the late act ought 
to be repealed. " I am against repealing the last act of Par- 
liament," said Lord North ; " I will never think of repeahng 
it until I see America prostrate at my feet." The House of 
Lords replied to the king in an address. "We will, by 
every means in our power, cheerfully and zealously support 
your Majesty in all such future measures as shall be found 

* Works, ii. 214. ^ Memoirs of J. Quincy, Jr., 18. 



268 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

requisite to enforce a due obedience to the laws, restore 
order and good government where they have been disturbed, 
and to establish the constitutional dependence of the colonies 
of Great Britain, so essential to the interest and prosperity 
of both." These words were a virtual declaration of war 
against the colonies. 

On the 26th of January, 1769, a grand debate took place 
"on the North American affairs," in the House of Commons. 
The ministry showed what they had done already, and in- 
tended to do in the future, — " that on the representation 
of Governor Bernard and the commissioners of customs, they 
had ordered troops and ships to Boston, by whose assistance 
everything was now quiet ; that they intended to keep them 
there ; that by not repealing the tax bills, they would show 
to North America their intentions to be steadily and firmly 
their masters ; that by bringing over the culpable, they 
hoped to strike a greater terror than any trials could do in 
that country, where it would be impossible to get a jury not 
involved in the same guilt." Barr^ declared, " The question 
is not of one refractory colony. The whole country is ripe 
for revolt. If we do not change our conduct towards her, 
America will be torn from our side. I repeat it, unless you 
repeal this law, you run the risk of losing America." 

At home, Bernard and Hutchinson, in connection with 
the attorney-general, were searching for evidence against 
the leading patriots of the day. Otis and Samuel Adams 
were especially abhorred ; and sworn affidavits, accusing 
them of treason, were sent to England. But these proceed- 
ings amounted to nothing. On the 31st of May, 1769, a 
new legislature was convened " in the name of the king." 
The grievances, which had been complained of a year before, 
remained unredressed. One of the first acts of the repre- 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 269 

sentatives was to draw up a protest, praying for " the removal 
of the forces, by sea and land, out of this port and the gates 
of this city." In his reply, the governor said, " I have no 
authority over his Majesty's ships in this port,- or his troops 
in this town ; nor can I give any orders for the removal of 
the same." The House was more dissatisfied than ever, and 
criticised the message of the governor with much severity. 
Towards the middle of June the controversy became warm, 
and the governor threatened to adjourn the General Court 
to some other place unless the members should alter their 
course. " It is an indifferent thing to me," he said, " where 
the General Court is held. I know that it is not necessarily 
confined to any town. That town seems to me to be the 
most proper for it where the business can be most conven- 
iently, easily, and readily done. And as it is apparent from 
your resolutions that you do not think this is a proper town 
for the Court to sit in, I shall remove it to Cambridge, 
against which place no objection that I know of can be 
formed." 

The House responded to this message in befitting words. 
" No time," said they, " can be better employed than in the 
preservation of the rights derived from the British constitu- 
tion, and insisting upon points which, though your excel- 
lency may consider them as non-essential, we esteem its best 
bulwarks. No treasure can be better expended than in 
securing that true old English liberty which gives a relish 
to every other enjoyment." 

The governor made a final attempt in July to coerce the 
House. He requested that body to provide funds for meet- 
ing the expenses incurred by quartering his Majesty's troops 
in Boston. " Your excellency must excuse us," replied the 
House, " in this express declaration, that as we cannot, con- 



270 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

sistently with our honor or interest, and much less with 
the duty we owe our constituents, so we never shall make 
provision for the purposes you have mentioned." Thus, 
almost ignominiousl}', closed the administration of Governor 
Bernard. On the last day of Jul}^ he sailed for England, 
" regretted by none who were sincerely desirous of the free- 
dom and welfare of the province, but followed by the honest 
indignation of every intelligent and upright patriot for the 
misrepresentations he had often made of the views and 
conduct of the oppressed citizens, and the arbitrary and 
unfeeling manner in which he had executed the obnoxious 
laws of the British ministry." 

Thomas Hutchinson, who for eight years previous had 
been chief justice of the province, succeeded to the chair 
left vacant by Bernard. Had Hutchinson been a sincere and 
firm friend to the rights of the province, though at the same 
time duly disposed to maintain the prerogative of the king 
and the just authority of Parliament, harmony would prob- 
ably have been in a good degree restored to the province, 
and the separation of the colonies from the parent state 
delayed for many years. As the case stood, neither the 
previous conduct nor the character of the new governor 
afforded any pledges of a peaceful administration. Already 
the spirit of the j)eople appalled him, and their refractory 
deeds convinced him that " without a further exertion of 
power and authority from the kingdom, acts of Parliament 
for raising money by taxes from the inhabitants of the colo- 
nies could never be carried into execution." 

At the session of Parliament, in January, 1770, the Amer- 
ican question was discussed, Pitt ventured to address the 
House of Lords, while every member hung on his lijis with 
attention. In the course of his remarks, he said, " I own 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 271 

my natural partiality to America, and am inclined to make 
allowance for all excesses. The people of the colonies should 
be treated with kindness. Their ebullitions of liberty, which 
have broken out upon the skin, are a sign, if not of perfect 
health, at least of a vigorous constitution, and must not be 
driven in too suddenly, lest they strike to the heart. . . . 
The discontent of two millions of people deserves con- 
sideration, and its foundation should be removed. ■ For the 
present I will only say that we should be cautious how we 
invade the liberties of any part of our fellow-subjects, how- 
ever remote in situation, or unable to make resistance. 
Liberty is a plant that deserves to be cherished. I love 
the tree, and wish well to its branches, wherever they 
are." i 

Said Camden, " I have suffered myself too long to be 
trammelled by the ministers of his Majesty. For some time 
I have beheld, with silent indignation, their arbitrary meas- 
ures. I have often drooped and hung down my head in 
Council, and disapproved by my looks those steps which I 
knew my avowed opposition could not prevent. I will do 
so no longer, but openly and boldly speak my sentiments. I 
now proclaim to the world, that I entirely coincide in the 
opinion expressed b}' my noble friend, whose presence rean- 
imates us, touching this illegal and unconstitutional vote." ^ 
In the House of Commons, the ministry were condemned for 
having done everything without success. Barre exclaimed, 
" The people of England know, the people of Ireland know, 
and the American people feel^ that the iron hand of minis- 
terial despotism is lifted up against them ; but it is not less 
formidable against the prince than against the people." 
Lord North replied, " The trumpeters of sedition have pro- 

' > Pari. Debates, y. 127-131. =* Idem, v. 141-142. 



272 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

duced the disaffection. The drunken ragamuffins of a vocif- 
erous mob are exalted into equal importance with men of 
judgment, of morals, and of property. I can never acquiesce 
in the absurd opinion that all men are equal. The contest 
in America, which at first might have been easily ended, is 
now for no less than sovereignty on one side and indepen- 
dence on the other." ^ 

Meanwhile affairs in Boston had not peacefully progressed. 
Almost daily meetings were held, and the state of affairs 
was discussed. The merchants grew more and more refrac- 
tory, and the relations between the soldiery and the public 
were of an exceedingly hostile nature. The murder of a 
young man, named Snider, during a mob on the 22d of 
February, was the prelude to scenes of greater violence. On 
the 2d of March a private of the twenty-ninth regiment 
sought employment at Gray's ropewalk, and was repulsed. 
He challenged to " fight any one ; " the challenge was accept- 
ed by a workman, and the soldier was beaten. Several 
companions of the latter next engaged in the contest, and 
they too were driven off. Upon returning to their barracks, 
these fellows "inflamed each other's passions, as if the honor 
of the regiment were tarnished." Through Saturday and 
Sunday they nourished their anger. Some days before one 
of their number had said, " I will never miss an opportunity 
of firing upon the inhabitants. I have wanted such an 
opportunity ever since I landed." 

On Monday, the 5th of March, there was a fall of snow ; 
but towards evening the weather cleared up, and the moon 
shone brightly upon the earth. At an early hour " clusters 
of the inhabitants were observed in different quarters of the 
town," and " parties of soldiers were driving about the 

' Pari. Debates, v. 203, seq. 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 273 

streets, as if the one and the other had something more than 
ordinary upon their minds." The nine o'clock bell sounded, 
as four young men were wending their way through Corn- 
hill towards Dock Square. "While passing the narrow lane, 
since known as Boylston's Alley, they were attacked by a 
soldier, brandishing a huge broadsword in his hand. The 
young men returned the blows ; and a few moments later, 
other soldiers arrived, and a general fray ensued. Crowds 
of people filled the streets, and from every quarter the citi- 
zens, summoned by the ringing of the bells and by boisterous 
shouts of " Fire ! " came rushing to the scene of strife. The 
tumult increased, and the rage of the soldiery became un- 
governable. An attempt was made by a few prominent 
citizens to disperse the multitude, but without effect. 

By this time thirty or more boys had assembled in King, 
now State, Street, and had begun to annoy the sentinel who 
stood at the door of the Custom House. On a sudden, a 
servant cried out, sa^dng, ".They are killing the sentinel ; 
turn out the guard." At the command of Preston, a de- 
tachment of seven or eight soldiers, headed by a corporal, 
hastily posted themselves in a semicircle just west of the 
Custom House door, where they were immediately saluted 
with snowballs and missile weapons. " Stand off! " shouted 
Preston to the crowd ; and finding that his words were un- 
heeded, he ordered the soldiers to load and prime. " You 
are. not going to fire ? " asked several b3'standers. " By no 
means, unless I am compelled to," was the reply. " For 
God's sake," said Knox, grasping at Preston's coat, " take 
your men back again ; if they fire, your life must answer for 
the consequences." "I know what I am about," said 
Preston; but the agitation of his countenance belied his 

words. 

35 



274 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

After the soldiers had finished loading, a party of ten or 
a dozen citizens, with sticks in their hands, advanced, struck 
at the muskets, saying, " Come on, you rascals ! you bloody 
backs ! you lobster scoundrels ! Fire, if you dare ! You 
dare not fire ! " A moment later, a voice cried, " Fire ! " 
and one of the soldiers stepped forward and discharged his 
gun. Attucks, a negro, fell. The order was repeated, — 
and Samuel Gray fell. Other guns were discharged, and in 
all, three persons were killed, and eight were wounded. 
The successive firings attracted more citizens into the streets. 
The bells of all the churches were ringing the alarm, and 
the drums sounded, "To arms — to arms!" In the midst 
of the excitement, the governor was requested to order the 
troops to return to their barracks. " It is not in my power," 
he answered. " It lies with Colonel Dalrymple, and not 
with me. I will send for him, however." At length the 
troops were marched to the barracks, and the crowd was 
dispersed. 

On the following morning the selectmen waited upon the 
governor, and informed him that a meeting of the citizens 
would shortly be held, and that nothing would satisfy them 
but a speedy removal of the troops. At eleven o'clock in 
the forenoon the citizens met, and appointed a committee of 
fifteen to proceed to the Council Chamber, to demand the 
removal of the trooi:)s. Hutchinson made a reply, saying, 
" I have consulted with the commanding officers. They have 
their orders from the general, at New York. It is not in 
my power to countermand those orders. The Council have 
desired the regiments to be removed ; and Colonel Dalrymple 
has signified to me that the regiment of which he has the 
command shall, without delay, be placed in the barracks at 
the Castle, until he can send to the general and receive his 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 275 

orders for both regiments. The main guard, he also assures 
me, shall be removed ; and the fourteenth regiment shall be 
laid under such restraint that all occasion of future disturb- 
ances may be prevented." ^ 

In the afternoon the meeting was adjourned from Faneuil 
Hall to the Old South Meeting House. " Make way for the 
committee ! " was the shout which signified to the multitude 
the return of that sp'ecial body. The committee read their 
report ; and dissatisfaction was painted on the countehance 
of every listener. A second committee of seven was ap- 
pointed to bear a final message to the governor. They found 
his Honor, as before, unable, or at least unwilling, to comply 
with the demand of the town meeting. " The troops are 
not subject to my authority ; I have no power to remove 
them," said the governor with firmness. " If you have 
power to remove one regiment," replied Samuel Adams, 
whose frame trembled at the energy of his soul, " you have 
power to remove both. It is at your peril, if you refuse. 
The meeting is impatient. The country is in motion. Night 
is approaching ; and your answer is expected." The gover- 
nor trembled under the steady gaze of the speaker, and his 
officers were likewise abashed. "It is impossible to go any 
further lengths in this matter," said Colonel Dalrymple. 
" You must either comply, or determine to leave the prov- 
ince," whispered Oliver. Thus advised, the governor yield- 
ed. The committee returned to the meeting, and the reading 
of their report gave the highest satisfaction. 

On the 8th, the four victims of the " Boston Massacre " 
were buried with great ceremony. Most of the shops in the 
town were closed ; and the church bells in Charlestown, 
Cambridge, and Roxbury were solemnly tolled whilst the 

1 Boston News Letter, March 15, 1770. 



V 



276 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

funeral procession marched through the main street to the 
middle burial ground, where the last rites were performed. 
It was a sad day for the people of Boston. " They well 
knew that exaggerated narratives of the affair would be pub- 
lished, and that no pains would be spared to insist upon 
harsher measures, and to justify high-minded attempts to 
enslave them. Yet, withal, there was a feeling in the breast 
of every one that, come what would, the province must on 
no account recede from its position." ^ 

Shortly after the fray of the 5th of March, a warrant had 
been issued for the arrest of Preston, and of the, soldiers 
whom he had called out. The trial of Preston was held in 
October, and Josiah Quincy, Junior, was selected as one of 
his advocates. On the 30th of the month, the trial, of which 
no minutes exist, was concluded, with the acquittal of Pres- 
ton. On the 27th of November the soldiers' trial was begun. 
They were ably defended by Quincy and John Adams. Of 
the accused, six were found " not guilty; " two, "guilty of 
manslaughter." These latter were " each of them burnt iii 
the hand, in open court, and discharged." 

Thus closed the direct result of the ever-memorable event 
of the 5th of March. In reviewing the circumstances at- 
tending the " massacre," one is disposed to censure as much 
the conduct of the citizens as of the soldiery. Both parties 
were, at the time, in a feverish state of excitement, and the 
tragedy was naturally to be expected from events that had 
already happened. Which side was the more to be blamed, 
it is difficult to say. Nor should Captain Preston be cen- 
sured too severely. He may, or may not, have given the 
order to fire. The evidence against him was certainly not 

* Barry, ii. 420. 



MILITARY DESPOTISM IN THE PROVINCE. 277 

conclusive ; and he himself personally denied having given 
any such order. The real blame in the whole affair is at- 
tached to those who sent the soldiery to Boston. Hills- 
borough and Bernard, — upon them must always rest the 
responsibility. 



278 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 

"Whilst the victims of a massacre were falling in the 
streets of Boston, the American question was again under 
debate in the Parliament of Great Britain. The attention 
of the latter had been called by the " merchants and traders 
of London," to the " alarming suspense " into which com- 
merce had fallen, and some relief was sought. Only a few 
weeks before. Lord North had been called to the position 
made vacant by the resignation of the Duke of Grafton, 
and he now stood as the first lord of the treasury. 

"When the petition of the merchants and traders was 
read in the House, Lord North arose. " He had favored," 
he said, " with the rest of the ministry, at the end of the 
last session, the circular letter to the governors of the 
colonies, promising to repeal, on certain commercial prin- 
ciples, that part of the law which was repugnant to them ; 
that he did this as a persuasive to bring them back to their 
duty, by a measure which would not at the same time relax 
the reins of government over them ; and he could have 
wished to repeal the whole, if it could have been done 
without giving up such absolute right. But he was sorry 
to say that the behavior of the Americans had by no means 
been such as to merit this favor, their resolutions being 
more violent this summer than ever ; neither did he think 
a total repeal would by any means quell the troubles there ; 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 279 

as experience had shown that to lay taxes when America 
was quiet, and repeal them when America was in flames, 
only added fresh claims to those people on every occa- 
sion ; and now, as they totally denied the power of 
Great Britian to tax them, it became more absolutely 
necessary to compel the observance of the laws, to vin- 
dicate the rights of Parliament." ^ Lord North then asked 
leave to " bring in a bill to repeal the tax act as far 
as related to the tax on paper, glass, and painters' colors." 

Pownall, who had been governor of the province, and 
knew well whereof he spoke, defended the petition, and 
moved that the tax might be removed from tea. " I do 
not argue this repeal," he said, " as asking a favor for the 
Americans ; they do not now ask the repeal as a favor. 
Nor do I move in this matter as seeking redress of a 
grievance complained of by them ; they have not com- 
plained to Parliament, nor do they come for redress. Al- 
though they feel deeply, they suffer and endure with a 
determined and alarming silence. They are under no ap- 
prehension for their liberty. They remember that it was 
planted under the auspicious genius of this constitution ; 
it hath taken root, and they have seen it grow up, under 
the Divine blessing, to a fair and blooming tree. And 
should any severe strokes of fate again and again prune 
it down to the bare stock, it would only strike the deeper 
and the stronger. It would not, perhaps, rise in so straight 
and fair a form, but it would prove the more hardy and 
durable. They trust, therefore, to Providence ; nor will 
they complain." 

Conway favored the repeal of " the whole of the present 
act ; " and Barre, also, was for " the whole repeal." When 

» Pari. Debates, v. 253-255 : Mahon's Hist, of Eng., v. 265. 



280 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the vote was taken, the repeal was lost, so far as the 
article of tea was concerned, though carried on the other 
points. Nothing was more plain than that the ministers 
were obstinate, and their conduct impolitic. 

In Massachusetts, the General Court was waging a fierce 
controversy with Hutchinson. On the 15th of March the 
latter had convened the legislature at Cambridge, " much 
against their will." Their petition that the assembly should 
be restored " to its ancient place, the Court House in 
Boston," was firmly disregarded by the governor. Finding 
him inflexible, the House resolved : " We proceed to busi- 
ness under this grievance, only from absolute necessity, — 
hereby protesting against the illegality of holding the 
assembly as aforesaid, and ordering this our protest to 
be entered on our journals, to the end that the same may 
not be drawn into precedent at any time hereafter." In 
his messages to the Court, the governor took no notice 
of the tragedy of the 5th of March, but spoke freely of cer- 
tain disturbances of minor importance. To his charge of 
" riots and tumults," the House replied, " It may justly be 
said of the people of this province that they seldom, if ever, 
have assembled in a tumultuous manner, unless they have 
been oppressed. It cannot be expected that a people accus- 
tomed to the freedom of the English constitution, will be 
patient under the hand of tyranny and arbitrary power. 
They will discover their resentment in a manner which will 
naturally displease their oppressors. And, in such case, the 
severest laws and the most rigorous execution will be to 
little or no purpose. The most effectual method to restore 
tranquillity would be to remove their burdens, and to punish 
aU those who have been the procurers of their oppression." ^ 

* Hutchinson, iii. 283, seq. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 281 

Affairs became so entangled that, in May, a warm debate 
took place in the House of Commons. On the motion of 
William Burke, seventeen resolves were reported in the 
House, condemning the measures of the ministry. All but 
one of these resolves, however, were negatived. On the 
18th of the month Burke's resolves were read in the 
House of Lords, and the Duke of Richmond severely cen- 
sured the recent conduct of Hillsborough, upon whom he 
charged all the late disorders. Hillsborough, taken utterly 
by surprise, rose to his feet. He knew, he said, that he 
stood on slippery ground, and was responsible for having 
quartered the troops in Boston. " Adjourn ! adjourn ! " 
cried his friends, anticipating a collision. But the Marquis 
of Rockingham had gained the floor, and was quickly 
followed by Lord Temple. " How have the promises rela- 
tive to America been complied with ? " asked the latter. " I 
must confess," he added, " that these promises have been 
performed in a most singular manner, and that the busi- 
ness of the government has been done in a style still more 
singular, — a style which reminds me of the French gas- 
conade, — 

' The King of France, with forty thousand men, 
Marched up the hill, and so marched down again.'" 

But in the House of Lords the resolves were rejected, and 
the weight of authority still rested on the side of the 
ministry. 

A new General Court convened at Cambridge on the last 
Wednesday in May. At the opening of the session, the 
House said to the governor, '' The Town House in Boston is 
the only 'place where the General Court is to be convened 
and held. We do not conceive that it is in your Honor's 
36 



^ 



282 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

discretion to remove it to this or to any other pLace ; nor 
does the prerogative of the crown extend so far as to 
suffer you to exercise power to the injury of the people. 
We therefore esteem it our indispensable duty, before pro- 
ceeding to the business of this assembly, to remonstrate 
against its being held in any other place than the Town 
House in Boston." Hutchinson, finding all his hopes blasted, 
prorogued the assembly to the 25th of June, and then to the 
following September. 

Meanwhile preparations were going on for establishing 
martial law in Massachusetts. An order was issued closing 
the port of Boston, and placing the custody of the Castle 
in the hands of Dalrymple and the king's troops. The 
controversy with the governor still continued, and with 
no signs of an abatement. The time had come for action 
of some sort, while delay served only to augment the dis- 
turbance. It was said in England that the colonies were 
on the eve of a revolt. Hutchinson and Hillsborough 
understood each other, and were working in conjunction. 
*' No more time should be lost in deliberation," said the 
latter. " If the kingdom is united and resolved," wrote 
the former, " I have but very little doubt we shall be as 
tame as lambs." By choosing Franklin as the new agent of 
the province, it was hoped that the difficulties of the situa- 
tion might soon be overcome. 

For a few months quiet reigned in the province. In 
March, 1771, Hutchinson received his fuU commission as 
successor of Bernard. He was now the governor of Massa- 
chusetts, and the goal of his ambition was fairly reached. 
He looked about him in search of opponents. Otis was 
shattered in intellect ; John Adams had withdrawn from 
public life ; but Samuel Adams, Bowdoin, Gushing, Haw- 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 283 

ley, "Warren, and Phillips remained strong in purpose and 
zeal. On the 3d of April the General Court convened 
at Cambridge, and in his opening address the governor 
pledged to acquiesce " in such measures as might tend 
completely to restore and constantly to maintain that state 
of order and tranquillity upon which the prosperity of 
the province depended." ^ The Court paid but little con- 
sideration to the address, and persisted in the desire to 
be removed to Boston. Samuel Adams ventured to move 
that " the House should come into a resolve to do no 
business except in the town of Boston ; " but Otis, who 
represented the town in the place of John Adams, op- 
posed the motion, and after some debate it was negatived. 

Samuel Adams, whose thirst for independence was brand- 
ed as an " original sin," now began to reflect upon a 
general union of the colonies. " It would be an ardu- 
ous task," he said, " to awaken a sufficient number to 
so grand an undertaking. Nothing, however, should be 
despaired of. The tragedy of American freedom is nearly 
completed. A tyranny seems to be at the very door. 
Yet the liberties of our country are worth defending at 
all hazards. If we should suffer them to be wrested from 
us, millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers in 
the event. Every step has been taken but one ; and 
the Last Appeal would require prudence, unanimity, and 
fortitude. America must herself, under God, finally work 
out her own salvation." ^ Gushing, likewise, declared for 
union, and urged that " the assemblies ought to keep a 
watchful eye upon theii* liberties." 

Nothing of importance transpired during the winter and 
spring ; but in the summer of 1772 new difficulties arose, 

' Bradford's State Papers, 294. * Boston Gazette, for Oct. 14, 1771. 



284 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

occasioned bj a dispute relative to the salary of the governor. 
The latter was enraged, and wrote to Hillsborough, saying 
that, " if the nation would arouse and unite in measures to 
retain the colonies in subordination, all this new doctrine of 
independence would be disavowed, and its first inventors be 
sacrificed to the rage of the people whom they had deluded." 
To this strain the secretary replied that the king, " with the 
entire concurrence of Lord North, had made provision for 
the support of his law servants in the Massachusetts Bay." 
This was the last official act of Hillsborough. He fell from 
his office, and the young and amiable Earl of Dartmouth 
became secretary for the colonies. 

"We must now strike a home blow," said the Boston pa- 
triots, " or the chains of tyranny are riveted upon us." Then 
followed the step, " which included the whole revolution ; " 
and Samuel Adams moved, in a town meeting held in Bos- 
ton, " that a committee of correspondence be appointed, to 
consist of twenty-one persons, to state the rights of the colo- 
nists, and of this province in particular, as men and Chris- 
tians, and as subjects ; and to communicate and publish the 
same to the several towns and to the world, as the sense of 
this town, with the infringements and violations thereof that 
have been, or from time to time may be, made." The motion 
prevailed ; and a committee, with Otis as chairman, was 
appointed. Thus was laid the foundation for American 
Union. 

After the committee was organized, Samuel Adams was 
instructed to prepare a statement of the rights of the colo- 
nies ; Joseph Warren, a statement of the violations of those 
rights ; and Benjamin Church, to draught a letter to the 
several towns in the province. On the 20th of November 
the Boston committee made their report in a spirited and 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 285 

unequivocal manner. Such was its effect, together with that 
of the circular letter, that before the spring opened commit- 
tees of correspondence were everywhere established. The 
response of the several towns was unanimously in favor of 
defending all rights and liberties. Hutchinson, in terror, 
invoked the aid of Parliament. " This unhappy contest," 
said Samuel Adams, " will end in rivers of blood ; but Amer- 
ica may wash her hands in innocence." 

The relations of the colonies to the Parliament of Great 
Britain were fully discussed, and several spirited messages 
passed between the General Court and the governor. " I stand 
amazed at the governor," wrote John Adams in his diary, 
" for forcing on this controversy. He will not be thanked 
for this. His ruin and destruction must spring out of it, 
either from the ministry and Parliament, on the one hand, 
or from his countrymen. He has reduced himself to a most 
ridiculous state of distress." ^ At the same time the gover- 
nor endeavored to conceal his chagrin, and still insisted that 
" Parliament would, by some means or other, maintain its 
supremacy." ^ From the beginning to the end of the contro- 
versy, Hutchinson seems to have been adverse to the adop- 
tion of any conciliatory measures, and to have wished only 
to be subservient to the crown. 

The project of raising a revenue from America was again 
debated. The colonial tax of threepence on the pound was 
still assessed on tea ; and Lord North declared that this 
should not be abandoned. But already the colonists had 
voted to import no more tea ; and even the wives and daugh- 
ters of the yeomanry of Massachusetts had cheerfully agreed 
to abstain froA the use of tea altogether. When the tidings 
arrived that London merchants were preparing to ship tea 

1 Works, ii. 315. '^ Bancroft, vi. 453. 



286 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

to America, the papers of the day declared that, " whoever 
should purchase and use this article would drink political 
damnation to themselves." ^ The excitement of the hour 
■was immense. " When our liberty is gone," said Samuel 
Adams, " history and experience will teach us that an in- 
crease of inhabitants is but an increase of slaves ; " and with 
his usual eloquence he urged '* a plan of union proposed by 
Virginia." 

On the 3d of November, 1773, at an early hour, a flag was 
suspended from Liberty Tree, and at noon, five hundred 
persons assembled. Hither the agents of the East India 
Company had been summoned to resign their commissions. 
But they failed to appear, and a special committee was ap- 
pointed to wait upon them at their stores. The warehouse 
of Richard Clarke, in King Street, was first visited. " From 
whom are you a committee ? " asked Clarke. " From the 
whole people," was the reply. " And who are the com- 
mittee ? " "I am one," responded Molineux, who acted as 
spokesman. " What is your request ? " " That you give 
us your word to sell none of the teas in your charge, but 
return them to London in the same bottoms in which they 
were shipped. Are you ready to comply ? " "I shall have 
nothing to do with you," was the response. Similar scenes, 
with similar results, occurred at other stores.^ 

On the 5th, the citizens met in Faneuil Hall. John Han- 
cock was chosen moderator ; and a series of resolves was 
voted, prohibiting the sale of the Company's teas. On the 
following day the meeting was continued, and a letter from 
Hutchinson, " daringly effrontive to the town," was read. 
Meanwhile information came that the tea shijJI had actually 
sailed, and might soon be expected. On the 18th, the citi- 

» Bradford, i. 298. =» Bancroft, vi. 473, 474. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 287 

^ens reassembled, and the consignees were again requested 
to resign. " We have received no orders from the East 
India Company respecting the teas," they replied ; " our 
friends in England have entered into general engagements 
in our behalf, merely of a commercial nature, which puts it 
out of our power to comply with the request of the town." ^ 
The agents refused, therefore, to resign, and applied to the 
governor for aid. But the Council declined acting on the 
petition, and the merchants were left to shift for themselves. 

On the 22d, the committees of Boston, Roxbury, Dorches- 
ter, Brooldine, and Cambridge met in convention in Faneuil 
Hall. The question was put, " Whether it be the mind of 
this committee to use their joint influence to prevent the 
landing and sale of the teas exported from the East India 
Company ? " An affirmative response being given, a circular 
letter was sent to the other towns, soliciting their concur- 
rence. Four days later, Cambridge moved that, " as it is 
very apparent that the town of Boston is now struggling 
for the liberties of the countr}-, it is therefore resolved, 
that this town can no longer stand idle spectators, but are 
ready, on the shortest notice, to join with the town of Boston 
and other towns in any measure that may be thought proper 
to deliver ourselves and posterity from slavery." On the 
next day Charlestown imitated this example. 

On the 28th, Sunday, one of the ships, laden with one 
hundred and fourteen chests of tea, arrived in Boston harbor. 
On the following day, at nine o'clock, Faneuil Hall was filled 
with citizens. So great was the concourse, that an adjourn- 
ment was made to the Old South Meeting House. Jonathan 
Williams was chosen moderator, and the proceedings, of the 
meeting were conducted in full harmony. At the instance 

' Hutchinson, iii. 426. 



288 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of Samuel Adams, it was resolved, that " the tea should be 
sent back to the place from whence it came, at all events, 
and that no duty should be paid on it." The consignees 
requested time " for consultation," which was granted ; and 
a watch of twenty-five persons was appointed to guard the 
"Dartmouth" — such was the name of the ship — during 
the night. The next morning, the consignees promised to 
store the teas until otherwise advised ; and a proclamation 
from the governor warned the crowd to disperse. After 
having exacted from the master and owner of the ship a 
promise that the teas should be returned, and having voted 
to carry into effect their former resolves, " at the risk of their 
lives and properties," the assembly adjourned. Meanwhile 
the other ships arrived, and the crisis drew near. 

At ten by the clock on the morning of the eventful 16th of 
December, the citizens, with two thousand from the country, 
again met in the Old South. It was reported that Rotch, 
the owner of the Dartmouth, had been refused a clearance. 
*' Shall we abide by our resolutions ? " it was asked. Adams 
and Young said " Yes." Quincy, however, advised discre- 
tion. " Our hands have been put to the plough," cried the 
people ; " we must not look back." Without delay, seven 
thousand people voted to prevent the landing of the tea.^ 

The Old South was dimly lighted. It had been dark an 
hour, when Rotch appeared, and reported that the governor 
had refused him a pass. Whilst a momentary silence reigned, 
Samuel Adams arose and said, " This meeting can do noth- 
ing more to save the country." Instantly a loud shout was 
heard, and forty or fifty men, disguised as Indians, rushed 
out of the porch of the Old South, hurried to Griffin's Wharf, 
took possession of the three tea ships, and there, breaking 

' Hutchinson, ill. 435, seq. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 289 

open the chests, poured their contents into the sea. This 
work was conducted with perfect order ; and when the deed 
was done, the patriots, rejoicing at the success of their en- 
terprise, retired to their homes. " This," wrote Hutchinson, 
" was the boldest stroke which had yet been struck in Amer- 
ica." ^ "This," wrote Adams, "is the most magnificent 
movement of all. There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity 
in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire. The 
people should never rise without doing something to be 
remembered. The destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, 
so firm, intrepid, and inflexible, and it must have so impor- 
tant consequences, and so lasting, that I cannot but consider 
it an epocha in history." ^ 

The governor knew not what to do, and was almost in a 
state of frenzy. The House were against him, the Council 
were against him, while the committees of correspondence 
were more elate than ever. On the 26th of January, 1774, 
was held a meeting of the Court. The governor, in his 
address, spoke disapprovingly of the appointment of Commit- 
tees of correspondence. The House rejoined that, "while 
the common rights of the American subjects continued to 
be attacked, at times when the several assemblies were not 
sitting, it was highly necessary that they should correspond 
with each other, in order to unite in the most effectual means 
for the obtaining a redress of their grievances." ^ 

On the 7th of March the destruction of the tea at Boston 
was communicated to both Houses of Parliament by an 
address from the throne. Some days later a bill was brought 
in for the punishment of Boston. " You cannot," said Rose 
Fuller, " carry this bill into execution without a military 
force. But if you send over a small number of men, the 

' Hist., iii. 439. " V^^orks, ix. 333. ^ Bradford's State Papers, 411, seq. 
19 



290 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Boston militia will immediately cut them to pieces ; if you 
send over a larger number, six or seven thousand, the 
Americans will debauch them ; and by these means we shall 
only hurt ourselves. I would begin by an amercement." 
" We must proceed to some immediate remedy," said Lord 
North. " Now is our time to stand out, to defy them, to 
proceed with firmness, and without fear. They will never 
reform until we take a measure of this kind. I hope this 
act will not, in any shape, require a military force to put 
it into execution. Four or five frigates will do the busi- 
ness, without any military force. But if the consequences 
of disobedience are likely to produce rebellion, these con- 
sequences belong to them, and not to us. It is not what 
we have brought on, but what they alone have occasioned. 
We are only answerable that our measures are just and equi- 
table. Let us, then, proceed with firmness, justice, and 
resolution." The voice of Barr^ thundered through the 
hall, " Keep your hands out of the pockets of the Ameri- 
cans, and they will be obedient subjects. Parliament may 
fancy they have rights in theory, which, I'll answer for, 
they can never reduce to practice." During the ensuing 
discussion, Dowdeswell, Pownall, and Edmund Burke de- 
fended the Americans. But the measures of the king and 
the ministers were not to be changed ; and on the 29th 
the Bill, closing the port of Boston, passed the House of 
Lords unanimously.^ 

In April another bill was passed by Parliament, by which 
the executive power was wrested from the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and the Council made elective by the crown. 
The royal governor was to have the power to appoint and 
to remove all judges ; and juries were to be nominated only 

' Pari. Deb., vii. 86-104. Bancroft, vi. 518, seq: 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 291 

by the sheriffs. Town meetings could be convoked only by 
the will of the governor, and no subjects could be discussed, 
in the town meetings, that were not- approved by him. In 
case any person should be indicted for a capital offence, the 
governor was empowered, at his discretion, to send such 
persons to England for trial. At the same time it was 
ordered that Samuel Adams, " the chief of the revolution," 
should be arrested, and that proceedings against him should 
be instituted without further delay. 

On the 17th of May, General Gage arrived in Boston, 
and was cordially welcomed by all the officers of gov- 
ernment, the selectmen, and " a number of other gentle- 
men." On the same day his commission was publicly read 
as civil governor and commander-in-chief, and the oath 
of office was administered by the president of the Coun- 
cil. Hutchinson was now superseded, and martial law 
was fully established in Boston. " Shall the Boston Port 
Bill be enforced ? " was the question propounded by General 
Gage. Hutchinson, the admiral, and the commissioners of 
customs agreed that it should be carried into effect. On 
the 1st of June the bill went into effect ; the courts were 
suspended, and the custom-house was closed. While the 
church bells tolled in mourning, Hutchinson and his family- 
sailed for England, never more to return. Before the 
summer had closed four regiments of troops were quartered 
in the town, and an additional force had been ordered from 
other localities. 

Meanwhile a discussion had been carried on in the Gen- 
eral Court, and a plan of union had been matured. On 
the 17th of June the governor was informed of these 
proceedings, and commissioned his secretary to dissolve the 
Court. But the House took no notice of the message. On 



292 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

the same 6.2Ly the citizens again assembled in Faneuil Hall, 
and, with John Adams in the chair, voted that the com- 
mittee of correspondence be " enjoined forthwith to write 
to all the other colonies, acquainting them that we are 
not idle ; that we are deliberating upon the steps to be 
taken in the present exigencies of our public affairs ; that 
our brethren, the landed interest of this province, with 
an unexampled spirit and unanimity, are entering into a 
non-consumption agreement ; and that we are waiting with 
anxious expectation for the result of a Continental Con- 
gress, whose meeting we impatiently desire, in whose 
wisdom and firmness we confide, and in whose determina- 
tions we shall cheerfully acquiesce." ^ From this time 
onward the patriots were in earnest. Every attention was 
paid to military discipline, and preparations for a final con- 
test with Great Britain were daily going on. Throughout 
the whole province people " were never more firm and 
zealous, and they looked to the last extremity with^pirit 
and resolution." In places where government influence 
most prevailed, nothing was to be " seen or heard of ex- 
cept the purchasing of arms and ammunition, the casting 
of balls, and the making of all those preparations which 
testify the most immediate danger and determined resist- 
ance." 2 

The position of Gage was not one to be envied. His 
excessive arrogance and superciliousness rendered his pres- 
ence more obnoxious than even that of Bernard. He was 
" neither fit to reconcile nor to subdue. By his mild temper 
and love of society he gained the good will of his own com- 
panions, and escaped personal enmities, but in earnest busi- 

• Boston News Letter for June 23, 1774. 
' Gordon's Am. Rev., i. 249. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 293 

ness he inspired neither confidence nor fear. He had 
promised the king that with four regiments he would play 
the ' lion,' and troops beyond his requisition were hourly 
expected. His instructions enjoined upon him the seizure 
and condign punishment of Samuel Adams, Hancock, Joseph 
Warren, and other leading patriots ; but he stood in such 
dread of them that he never so much as attempted their 
arrest." ^ 

Public meetings and county conventions continued to 
be held almost daily. In vain did the governor seek to 
disperse these meetings and to protect the courts ; and, 
as his next step, he attempted to secure all the cannon and 
powder of the province. On the 1st of September a 
royal detachment marched to the powder-house on Quarry 
Hill, in Somerville, and carried off all its contents. Sev- 
eral field pieces were captured in Cambridge and taken to 
Castle William. These seizures roused the whole province, 
and kindled a flame which could not easily be quenched. 
In terror, Gage resolved to erect fortifications on the Neck, 
which commanded the entrance to the town of Boston. 
By the 9th of September two twentj^-four pounders and 
eight nine pounders had been mounted in this locality, and 
a body of troops stationed to keep watch. 

Whilst these hostile preparations were in progress, the 
Continental Congress assembled at Carpenter's' Hall in Phil- 
adelphia. It was on the 5th of September. Peyton Ran- 
dolph, of Virginia, was chosen president. The most eminent 
and influential men in America were present, and all of 
them were impressed with the importance of the business 
which they were called upon to transact. After the con- 
vention had opened with prayer, Patrick Henry, the great 

* Bancroft, vii. 38. 



294 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Demosthenes of his day, arose and addressed his constitu- 
ents. He recounted the rights of the people, and wherein 
they had been infringed ; and Henry Lee took up the 
thread of the story, and charmed the senses of his hearers 
with exquisite imager}*. Three weeks were spent in read- 
ing addresses, appointing committees, and getting ready for 
business. On the 27th it was resolved, " that from and 
after the first day of December next there be no impor- 
tation into British America, from Great Britain or Ireland, 
of any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, or from 
any other place of any such goods, wares, or merchandises 
as shall have been exported from Great Britain or Ireland ; 
and that no such goods, &c., imported after the said first 
day of December next shall be used or purchased." ^ A re- 
solve was passed, three days later, that, " from and after 
the tenth day of September, 1775, the exportation of all 
merchandise, and every commodity whatsoever, to Great 
Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, ought to cease, un- 
less the grievances of America are redressed before that 
time." 

In the following month a loyal address to the king was 
prepared ; a declaration of rights, embodied in eleven arti- 
cles, was passed, and able addresses to the peoples of Eng- 
land and of Canada were draughted and sent. After a 
session of seven weeks, the Congress was dissolved. " The 
world has hardly ever seen," it was written at the time, 
" any assembly that had matters of greater consequence 
before them, that were chosen in a more honorable man- 
ner, were better qualified for the high trust reposed in 
them, executed it in a more faithful, judicious, and effect- 
ual manner, or were more free and unanimous in their con- 

' Journal Cont. Cong., i. 21. 



THE PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE. 295 

elusions, than this. Their proceedings are all drawn with 
a masterly hand ; the expediency of every adopted meas- 
ure is clearly pointed out ; and the whole plan is so well 
calculated, so tempered with goodness and wisdom, with 
mildness and resolution, so guarded by precedence and sup- 
ported by reason, that in all probability it can hardly fail 
of the desired effect." ^ 

While the Congress was yet in session, a hostile fleet lay 
in the harbor of Boston, and a hostile army was parading 
its streets. The port was closed, the wharves were de- 
serted; but the "Sons of Liberty" knew no despair. 
From every hearthstone the song arose, — 

. "Boston, be not dismayed! 

Though tyrants noAv oppress, 
Though fleets and troops invade, 
You soon will have redress ; 
The resolution of the brave 
Will injured Massachusetts save." 

The whole people were preparing to make an armed 
resistance to British aggression ; but such was the quiet 
which everywhere prevailed, that Gage and his officers 
began to flatter themselves that faction was subdued. 

On the 7th of October the General Court of Massachu- 
setts was convened at Salem. From this time onward the 
members constituted a Provincial Congress, of which 
John Hancock was chosen president. On the 17th, a letter 
from the governor warned them of the "rock they were 
upon," and commanded them to " desist from such illegal 
and unconstitutional proceedings." One of the earliest 
measures of this Congress was to provide for the organization 

' Boston Evening Post, for Nov. 14th. 
' Frothingham's Siege of Boston, 39. 



296 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of a militia, and for the increase of the quantity of war- 
like stores. The towns in the province were advised to 
" see that each of the miniite-men, not already provided 
therewith, should be immediately equipped with an effective 
fire-arm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack, and thirty rounds of 
cartridge and balls, and be disciplined three times a week, 
and oftener as opportunity may offer." ^ Other matters 
were taken up, and after providing for calling a future 
Congress, the assembly was dissolved. 

When the new year opened, thirty-five hundred of the 
king's troops were garrisoned in Boston. Gage wrote vaunt- 
ingly to Dartmouth that, " if a respectable force is seen 
in the field, the most obnoxious of the leaders seized, and 
a pardon proclaimed for all others, government will come 
off victorious, and with less opposition than was expected 
a few months ago." ^ But Gage had fallen behind the 
truth, and had miscalculated the strength and will of his 
opponents. Once at Marshfield, and a second time at 
Salem, Gage, by the presence of a military force, sought 
to bring the patriots to terms of allegiance. Their vigilance, 
however, thwarted all his plans. 

About this time, Josiah Quincy, Junior, who had recently 
arrived in London, was attending the debates in Parliament. 
Hutchinson and Bernard were both urging " measures against 
America," and giving the " most positive assurances of suc- 
cess." Lord North had said, " We must try what we can 
do to support the authority we have claimed over America ; 
if we are defective in power, we must sit down contented, 
and make the best terms we can." ^ Said the Earl of 
Chatham, in the House of Lords, " The hour of danger 

' Journal Prov. Cong., 33., seq. ^ Gordon, i. 283. 

* Sparks, Washington, iii. 507. 



THE PROGRESS' OF THE STRUGGLE. 297 

must arrive ; unless these fatal acts of the last session are 
done away, it must arrive in all its horrors. There ought, 
therefore, to be no delay in this matter ; we should proceed 
to it immediately. But it is not merely repealing these acts 
that can win back America to your bosom. You must re- 
peal her fears and her resentments ; and you may then hope 
for her love and gratitude. We shall be forced ultimately to 
retract ; let us retract while we can, not when we must. 
Whoever advises the enforcement of these acts must do so 
at his peril. They must be repealed ; you will repeal them ; 
I pledge myself for it, that you will, in the end, repeal them. 
I stake my reputation on it. I will consent to be taken for 
an idiot if they are not finally repealed. Repeal, therefore, 
my lords ; Repeal, I say ! Thus will you convince Amer- 
ica that you. mean to try her cause in the spirit and by the 
laws of freedom and fair inquiry, and not by codes of blood. 
How can she trust you, with the bayonet at her breast? 
She has all the reason in the world to believe you mean her 
death or bondage. Avoid, then, this humiliating, disgrace- 
ful necessity. To conclude, if the ministers thus persevere 
in misadvising and misleading the king, I will not say that 
they can alienate the affections of his subjects from the 
crown, but I will affirm that, the American jewel out of it, 
they will make the crown not worth his wearing. I will not 
say that the king is betrayed ; but I will say that the nation 
is ruined." ^ 

Camden, Shelburne, and Rockingham coincided with the 
views expressed by Chatham. M'ost of the manufacturing 
towns in the kingdom also entertained similar opinions. 
But the ministers were opposed to any such reconciliation. 
Instead of recalling the troops, they were for sending out 

* Gordon, Am. Kev., i. 286-290. 

38 



298 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

more if necessary. "I will have America at my feet," was 
the motto of Lord North. When, finally, the question was 
taken, but fifteen favored the motion of repeal, while sixty- 
eight opposed it. Some days later Chatham sought again 
to arouse the nation to a sense of its danger, but in vain. 
Reconciliation was not to be thought of ; and th6 friends of 
America were powerless to avert the impending struggle. 
"Your countrymen," wrote they, "must seal their cause 
with their blood. They must not delay. They must resist, 
or be trodden down into the vilest vassalage — the scorn, the 
spurn of their enemies, a byword of infamy among all men." ^ 
The time for heroic valor was already at hand ; the signal had 
been given ; the watchfires of the revolution were kindled. 
The day-star of Liberty was soon to rise upon America. 

» Gordon, i. 284. 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 299 



CHAPTER XIV. 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 



In pursuance of a just policy, and in anticipation of an early 
collision with Great Britain, the committees of safety and sup- 
plies had collected and deposited at Concord large quantities 
of military stores. About the middle of March, 1775, it was 
rumored that General Gage was determined to destroy them ; 
and a guard was accordingly stationed for their security, and 
messengers were .engaged in Charlestown, Cambridge, and 
Roxbury to give the alarm should any such attempt be made. 
At this time Gage had under his command, in Boston and 
vicinity, no less than four thousand troops ; and it was well 
known that Generals Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne had been 
ordered to join him. Neither of these commanders had any 
confidence in the gallantry and strength of the provincials; 
but regarded them as cowards, easily intimidated and sub- 
dued. How different was the spirit that animated the pa- 
triots! "The people," wrote Gushing, "are not dismayed. 
Should the administration determine to carry into execution 
the late acts by military force, they will make the last appeal. 
They are determined life and liberty shall go together." 
Warren wrote, " America must and will be free. The 
contest may be severe, — the end will be glorious. We 
would not boast, but we think, united and prepared as we 
are, we have no reason to doubt of success, if we should be 
compelled to make the last appeal ; but we mean not to 



300 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

make that appeal until we can be justified in doing it in the 
sight of God and man." ^ 

Towards the middle of April a douht no longer prevailed 
that General Gage was bent upon destroying the magazines 
collected at Concord ; for on the pretence of learning a new 
military exercise, the grenadiers and light infantry were 
relieved from duty, and at night the boats belonging to the 
transport ships were launched and moored under cover of 
the men-of-war. Joseph Warren sent tidings of these sus- 
picious movements to Hancock and Samuel Adams, who 
were in Lexington ; and without delay the committee of 
safety took additional measures for the security of the stores, 
and even removed a portion of them to Sudbury and Groton. 

On Tuesday, the 18th, a dozen British officers, acting upon 
Gage's orders, stationed themselves on thor roads leading out 
of Boston, for the purpose of interrupting expresses sent out 
to alarm the country. That day the committee of safety met 
at Wetherby's tavern, in West Cambridge, now Arlington. 
Three of the committee, Gerry, Orne, and Lee, passed 
the night at the tavern ; two others, Devens and Watson, 
rode over towards Charlestown ; but meeting several mount- 
ed officers on the way, they returned to warn their friends. 
A message was at once despatched to Hancock and Adams 
to acquaint them of what was going on, and the receipt 
of these tidings caused the people of Lexington to adopt 
precautionary measures. When Devens arrived in Charles- 
town, he was told that the British troops were in motion in 
Boston. A few moments later a lantern was displayed by 
Paul Revere in the upper window of the tower of the North 
Church in Boston, — the signal of danger which had been 
agreed upon. 

' Frothingham's Siege of Boston, 53, seq. 




PAUL REVERE. 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 301 

Meanwhile Gage was perfecting his plans in secret, as he 
supposed. Lord Percy alone was in his confidence. In the 
evening the latter strolled through the Common. " The 
British troops have marched, but will miss their aim ! " said 
one of a group of men whom he passed. " What aim ? " 
asked Lord Percy. " Why, the cannon at Concord." Gage 
was notified of the conversation ; and he at once gave orders 
that no one should leave town. About eleven o'clock, how- 
ever, Paul Revere ■ rowed across the river to Charlestown, 
secured a horse, and started to alarm the country. 

" A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 
And beneath from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet : 
That was all ! And yet, through the gloom and the light, 
The fate of a nation was riding that night; 
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, 
Kindled the land into flame with its heat." 

Revere passed through Medford, and about midnight, 
arrived in Lexington, at the house of the Rev. Jonas Clark, 
where Hancock and Adams were stopping. Upon requesting 
admission, he was told by one of the guard stationed near 
the house that the family, before retiring, had requested that 
they might not be disturbed by any noise. " Noise ! " replied 
the hero of Middlesex ; " you'll have noise enough before 
long ; the regulars are coming." Revere was admitted ; and 
shortly afterwards William Dawes rode up, with the tidings 
that " a large body of the king's troops, supposed to be a bri- 
gade of twelve or fifteen hundred, had embarked in boats from 
Boston, and gone over to Lechmere's Point, in Cambridge, 
and it was suspected they were ordered to seize and destroy 
the stores belonging to the colony, deposited at Concord." 

About one o'clock the hardy and independent yeomanry 



302 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of Lexington were aroused ; and an hour later, the militia 
were assembled on the common. Captain John Parker was 
in command ; the roll was called, and the men, one hundred 
and thirty in number, were ordered to load with powder and 
ball. The night being chilly, they were then dismissed, 
most of them going into Buckman's tavern. Meanwhile the 
regulars were within a mile and a half of the Lexington 
meeting-house, and were still swiftly approaching. At half 
past four in the morning, Captain Parker ordered the drum 
to beat, alarm guns to be fired, and the company to form into 
position. A little later, Major Pitcairn, with six companies 
of light infantry, came in sight. He halted a moment, or- 
dered his troops to " prime and load," and then to march 
forward in double-quick time. Captain Parker saw that it 
would be useless to contend against this superior force, and 
immediately commanded his own men not to fire unless they 
were fired upon. Just then Colonel Smith, Major Pitcairn, 
and another officer rode forward, and when within a few rods 
of the militia, one of them cried out, " Ye villains, ye rebels, 
disperse ! " Major Pitcairn shouted, " Lay down your arms, 
damn you ! Why don't you lay down your arms ? " and he 
immediately discharged his pistol towards the few men before 
him, as they were retreating. The patriots would not obey ; 
whereupon Colonel Smith, brandishing his sword, advanced 
and gave the order in a loud voice, " Fire ! by God, fire ! " 
The first guns, few in number, did no execution ; but a gen- 
eral discharge which followed brought eighteen Americans 
to the ground, tiight of whom were killed. Such was the 
result of the bloody massacre on Lexington Common. The 
British troops re-formed, fired another volley, and gave three 
loud huzzas in token of their savage butchery. Colonel 
Smith, with the remainder of his force, soon joined Pitcairn, 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 303 

and the whole detachment pushed on towards Concord, a 
distance of about six miles. 

Meanwhile the alarm had spread in Concord. Dr. Samuel 
Prescott, a warm patriot, had roused the whole people, and 
the committee of safety, the military officers, and prominent 
citizens were assembled for consultation. The road from 
Lexington to Concord entered from the south-east, along the 
side of a hill which commences on the right of it about a 
mile below the village, rises abruptly from thirty to fifty feet 
above the road, and terminates at the north-easterly part of 
the square. The top forms a plain, which commands a view 
of the town. On this plain was the liberty pole ; and near 
the present county -house stood the court-house. The main 
branch of the Concord- River flows sluggishly on the westerly 
and northerly side of the village, about half a mile from its 
centre. Two bridges crossed this river, — one called the Old 
South Bridge, the other, by the Rev. William Emerson's, 
called the Old North Bridge. Beyond the latter, the road 
conducted to Colonel James Barrett's, about two miles from 
the centre of the town. 

The first man in Concord that made his appearance after 
the alarm was sounded, was the Rev. William Emerson, with 
his giin in hand. By three o'clock everj^body was awake in 
the village. Some of the inhabitants and a few of the militia, 
under the leadership of Colonel Barrett, were engaged in 
removing the military stores into the woods and by-places 
for safety ; Avhile the minute-men were stationed as guards 
at the North and South bridges, and at other points. In 
case of alarm, it was agreed to meet at Amos Wright's 
tavern, — a building still in existence. 

It was a little before seven o'clock in the morning, when 
the British were seen marching toward town. It was a 



304 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

lovely morning ; the fruit trees were in blossom, and the 
grass and grain had grown sufficiently high to wave with the 
wind. On the hill near the liberty pole stood a small band 
of Americans, consisting of Concord, Acton, and Lincoln 
men, under the command of Captain George Minot. When 
the British, in overwhelming numbers, had arrived within a 
few rods' distance, the Americans fell back to an eminence, 
about eighty rods in the rear, and formed "into two battal- 
ions." ' " Let us stand our ground," said William Emerson ; 
"if we die, let us die here." 

The British troops marched into Concord in two divisions, 
— one by the main road, and the other on the hill north of 
it, from which the Americans had just retired. The centre 
of the town was soon occupied by Colonel Smith with the 
grenadiers. Captain Parsons, with six light companies, 
marched to the North Bridge, where he left three companies 
under the command of Captain Laurie, and then, with the 
remaining three, proceeded to the residence of Colonel Bar- 
rett. Captain Pole was sent to secure the South Bridge. 
The British were not very successful in the work of destruc- 
tion. In the centre of the town, however, they broke open 
nearly sixty barrels of flour, knocked off the trunnions of 
three cannon, burnt sixteen new carriage wheels, and set 
fire to the court-house. Many valuable stores were con- 
cealed, and saved by the shrewdness of the citizens. 

When the troops appeared at the door of the dwelling of 
Captain Timothy Wheeler, the miller, the latter received 
them in a friendly manner. He asked them to sit down, to 
refresh themselves with bread and cheese and cider, which 
they did. Soon after the soldiers went out, and were about 
to break open the corn-house. Captain Wheeler begged 
them not to split the door, as he would himself freely open 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 305 

it. " Gentlemen,'' said he, " I am a miller. I improve 
those mills yonder, by which I get my living, and every gill 
of this flour," — at the same time planting his hand on a bag 
of flour that was really his own, — "I raised and manufac- 
tured on my own farm, and it is all m}'^ own. This is my 
storehouse. I keep my flour here until such time as I can 
make a market for it." " Well, I believe you are a pretty 
honest old chap, and don't look as if you would hurt any- 
body, and we won't meddle with you," responded the offi- 
cer ; and he ordered his men to march on. 

Already the British troops had been in Concord nearly 
two hours ; and in the mean time the militia of Concord and 
Lincoln, joined by their brethren from Carlisle, Chelmsford, 
Westford, Littleton, and Acton, in all about four hundred 
and fifty in number, had assembled on the high grounds, near 
the North Bridge, and were formed in line by Joseph Hos- 
mer, acting adjutant. The purpose of the Americans was to 
dislodge the guard at the North Bridge. It was a hazardous 
undertaking ; but anxious apprehensions failed to weaken 
valor. " I haven't a man that's afraid to go," remarked the 
brave Captain Isaac Davis, of Acton. A brief consultation 
of officers took place ; after which. Colonel Barrett ordered 
the militia to march to the bridge, and to pass it, but not to 
fire until they were fired upon. ' The companies advanced, 
under the command of Major John Buttrick, in double file 
and with trailed arms. 

As soon as the British guard, stationed near the west end 
of the bridge, discovered the approach of the provincials, 
they crossed the bridge, and took up a position on the east 
side of the river, as if for a fight. Presently the Americans 
neared the scene of action, and placed themselves in close 
proximity to the bridge. On the instant one of the regulars, 
39 



306 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

a sharpshooter, stepped from the ranks and fired his musket. 
The discharge was immediately followed by a volley, which 
killed Captain Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer, and wounded 
others. On seeing the effect of the fire, Major Buttrick 
turned to his men, and exclaimed impetuously, " Fire, fellow- 
soldiers ! for God's sake, fire ! " The firing lasted but a few 
minutes, when the British broke and fled in great confu- 
sion. Although hoth^ pursued by the provincials, they suc- 
ceeded in joining the main body in the centre of the town. 

By this time the old drums that had beat at Louisburg and 
Quebec were sounding on all the roads leading to Concord. 
" Now the war has begun," said Noah Parkhurst, of Lincoln, 
to a comrade, " and no one knows when it will end." The 
short and sharp action at the North Bridge changed the 
position of affairs in Concord. From seven o'clock in the 
morning the British had held possession of the town ; but 
with the first shot the Americans had assumed the offensive. 

At half past ten, probably. Colonel Smith concentrated 
his entire force in the centre of the town preparatory to 
his return to Boston. At twelve o'clock the British left 
the village, in the same order as they had entered. While 
the commanding of&cer knew that his safety lay only in an 
immediate evacuation of Concord, he felt also that the 
return march would be an exceedingly hazardous one, for the 
whole country seemed as if "men. came down from the 
clouds." The provincials were ever on the track of their 
enemy. Leaving the North Bridge, the former proceeded 
across " the great fields " to the Bedford road, where they 
were joined by the Reading minute-men, and shortly after- 
wards, by those from Billerica. The Americans adopted no 
military order ; at one blow they became almost an indepen- 
dent people, and on the pursuit, each man was his own gen- 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 307 

eral, chose his own time, his own position, and his own mode 
of attack. 

" A little before we came to Merriam's Hill," writes one 
of the provincials, " we discovered the enemy's flank guard, 
of about eighty or one hundred men, who, on their retreat 
from Concord, kept that height of land, the main body in the 
road. The British troops and the Americans at that time 
were equally distant from Merriam's house. About twenty 
rods short of that place the Americans made a halt. The 
British marched down the hill, with very slow but steady 
step, without music, or a word being spoken that could be 
heard. Silence reigned on both sides. As soon as the 
British had gained the main road, and passed a small bridge 
near that corner, they faced about suddenly, and fired a 
volley of musketry upon us. They overshot ; and no one, 
to my knowledge, was injured by the fire. The fire was 
immediately returned by the Americans, and two British 
soldiers fell dead, at a little distance from each other, in the 
road, near the brook." ^ 

The British troops continued to retreat, while the fire of 
the Americans was poured upon them from every quarter. 
The contest near the Brooks tavern, on the old road, was 
short and sharp. All along the woody defiles the British 
suffered terribly. At Fisher's Hill, in Lexington, Colonel 
Smith received a severe wound in his leg ; and at the foot of 
the hill a personal contest took place between James Hay- 
ward, of Acton, and a British soldier. The latter levelled 
his gun, saying, " You are a dead man ! " " And so are 
you," replied Hayward. Both fired. The soldier was killed 
instantly ; and Hayward, being mortally wounded, died the 
next day. The militia of Lexington, mindful of what they 

* Ripley's History. 



308 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

had suffered nine or ten hours previously, now improved 
their opportunity to retaliate. Captain Parker and his men 
gave the enemy a warm reception. Confusion ensued ; and 
for some time the British officers in vain tried to restore 
discipline. Furthermore their ammunition began to fail, 
while their light companies were so fatigued as to be almost 
unfitted for service. It was well known that, if re-enforce- 
ments had not arrived, Colonel Smith would have sur- 
rendered his entire command rather than have occasioned 
further slaughter. 

It was about two o'clock in the afternoon, when a brigade 
of eleven hundred men, with two field pieces and a provision 
train, under the command of Lord Hugh Percy, entered Lex- 
ington. They had arrived from Boston, in response to a 
request for aid which Smith had sent to Gage early in the 
morning. Their coming checked for a while the eager pur- 
suit of the Americans, and saved the regiment of Colonel 
Smith from annihilation. So fatigued were the British 
soldiers at this critical moment that " they were obliged to 
lie down upon the ground, their tongues hanging out of their 
mouths like those of dogs after a chase." 

After a brief respite the British resumed their march, 
followed and harassed by the provincials. Every height 
was filled with minute-men, and at every defile the contest 
was bloody. Meanwhile the British burned houses, barns, 
and shops which lay along their route. In Cambridge, the 
skirmishing again became sharp and bloody, and the troops 
increased their atrocity. The unarmed, the aged, and the 
infirm, who were unable to flee, were bayoneted and mur- 
dered in several instances in their habitations. Leaving 
"West Cambridge, the British took the ix)ad that winds round 
Prospect Hill. When they arrived at the hill, their situation 



LEXINGTON AND CONCORD. 309 

again became critical. Their progress was impeded by the 
large numbers ofi» the wounded ; only a few rounds of ammu- 
nition remained ; their cannon had lost their terror ; while 
all around the country was alive with provincials. A strong 
force was advancing upon them from Roxbury, Dorchester, 
and Milton ; and Colonel Pickering, with seven hundred of 
the Essex militia, threatened to cut off their retreat to 
Charlestown. 

At length, about sunset, with the aid of Percy's brigade, 
the enemy were enabled to reach Bunker Hill without being 
entirely captured or destroyed. There they were under the 
protection of the guns of the men-of-war lying in the har- 
bor. One hour later, and both detachments of the British 
would have fallen into the hands of the Americans. Colonel 
Smith's regiment had marched about forty miles in twenty 
hours, and endured incredible suffering on the retreat. 
Percy's brigade was ten hours on the road, and had marched 
twenty-six miles, and for half that time and half that distance 
they too were a target for the enraged American sharp- 
shooters. 

The Americans who joined in the pursuit, which began at 
the old North Bridge in Concord, came from Acton, Bedford, 
Billerica, Brookline, Beverly, Concord, Carlisle, Chelmsford, 
Cambridge, Charlestown, Dan vers, Dedham, Dorchester, 
Framingham, Lexington, Lincoln, Lynn, Littleton, Medford, 
Milton, Needham, Newton, Pepperell, Roxbury, Reading, 
Sudbury, Stow, Salem, Woburn, Watertown, and Westford. 
Thirty-one towns ! Such is the distinguished roll of honor 
represented in the opening fight of the Revolution. Of the 
Americans who suffered between Concord River and Bunker 
Hill, forty-nine were killed, thirty-six were wounded, and five 
were missing. The loss of the British comprised seventy- 



310 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

three killed, one hundred and seventy-two wounded, and 
twenty-six missing. 

The War of the Revolution had begun ; and the effect of 
the tidings of the first conflict was very great, both in the 
colonies and in Great Britain. In the former, the news 
spread with wonderful rapidity ; and in every quarter the 
people assembled, and prepared to join their brethren of 
Massachusetts in defence of their liberties. " What a glo- 
rious morning is this ! " exclaimed Samuel Adams, when he 
heard the sound of the guns at Lexington. He knew that 
it was the morning of Freedom ; and that the final triumph 
of the American cause was at hand. 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 311 



CHAPTER XV. 
BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 

The events of the great day of Lexington and Concord 
battle changed the American cause from commercial war to 
armed resistance. At this time the colonies were in the 
relation of Union, with a basis of brotherhood, common 
peril, and a common object. Its embodiment was the gov- 
ernment of congresses and committees inaugurated by the 
Continental Congress. 

After the fight, the Provincial Congress met at Water- 
town to take measures for the " salvation of the country." 
"Our all," it was said, "is at stake. Death and devasta- 
tion are the consequences of delay. Every moment is 
infinitely precious. An hour lost may deluge the country 
in blood, and entail perpetual slavery upon the few of 
our posterity who may survive the carnage." ^ On the 
23d of April it was voted, " that an army of thirty thou- 
sand men be immediately raised, and that thirteen thou- 
sand six hundred be raised by this province." ^ Provisions 
were made for defraying the expenses ; the committee of 
safety was ordered to " bring in a plan for the establish- 
ment of the officers and soldiers," and special committees 
were sent to the New Hampshire Congress, and to Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island, to request concurrence. General 
Artemus Ward now assumed command of the provincial 

» Jour. Prov. Cong., 147. * Idem, 148. 



312 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

troops. In a few days, the army was joined by Putnam, 
of Connecticut, and Stark and Sargent, of New Hampshire, 
whose services at this juncture were valuable. 

The situation of the people of Boston, at this time, was 
most distressing. They were not only cut off from inter- 
course with their friends in the country, but were exposed 
to dangers of countless number. Before the month closed, 
those who wished to do so, removed with all their effects 
from the town, after pledging themselves to maintain neu- 
trality for a season. Hundreds took advantage of this 
privilege. The inhabitants of Charlestown had already left 
that town ; in such numbers, indeed, that just before the 
date of the battle of Bunker Hill, scarcely two hundred re- 
mained out of a population of nearly three thousand. 

The organization and equipment of the provincial army 
were carried on as matters of primary importance. Massa- 
chusetts was daily adding to the number of her enlist- 
ments ; Rhode Island had voted to raise fifteen hundred 
men; Connecticut, six thousand, and New Hampshire, two 
thousand. In May, General Ward recommended that there 
should be procured " thirty twenty-four pounders ; and if 
that number of cannon cannot be obtained, that the weight 
of metal should be made up with eighteen pounders, double 
fortified ; ten twelve pounders, and eighteen nine pound- 
ers, with twenty one thousand six hundred pounds of 
powder, and eighty balls for each gun." ^ About the 
same time the erection of fortifications was commenced 
at Cambridge ; the Neck between Boston and Roxbury was 
secured, and the troops in Roxbury were re-enforced. On 
the 10th of May the second Continental Congress assembled 
at Philadelphia. The delegates from Massachusetts urged 

' Jour. Prov. Cong., 249. 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 313 

the adoption of measures for the relief of Boston. John 
Adams also urged " the adoption of the army in Cam- 
bridge as a continental army, the officers of which should be 
appointed, and the provisions for its support made, by the 
General Congress." ^ On the 15th of June, George Wash- 
ington, of Virginia, was unanimously chosen Commander-in- 
chief of the American army. This step was of the greatest 
importance, and was the corner-stone, indeed, of the new 
structure to be raised. Four daj's later. General Ward 
was elected as the second officer, and General Lee as the 
third. 

Meanwhile Gage had declared martial law to be in 
force, and had offered pardon to all who would lay down 
their arms, " excepting only from the benefit of such 
pardon Samuel Adams and John Hancock, whose offences 
are of too flagitious a nature to admit of any other con- 
sideration than that of condign punishment." ^ This proc- 
lamation, which served only to show the situation of its 
author, and his anger toward the patriots, was brought be- 
fore the Provincial Congress, who at once prepared a counter 
proclamation, granting pardon to all offenders against the 
rights and liberties of the country, " excepting only from 
the benefit of such pardon Thomas Gage and Samuel 
Graves, with the mandamus councillors Sewall, Paxton, 
and Hallowell, who had not resigned their office, and all 
the natives of America, not belonging to the navy or 
army, who went out with the troops on the nineteenth 
of April last, and were countenancing, aiding, and assist- 
ing them in the robberies and murders then committed." ^ 
The recruits for Gage's army, already numbering upward 

1 Adams, Works, ii. 407. ^ Jour. Prov. Cong., 344-347. 

* Frothingham, Siege, 113. 

40 



314 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of five thousand men, arrived in the last of May. By 
the middle of June, his force was increased to nearly ten 
thousand ; and with Generals Clinton, Howe, and Burgoyne 
as his under officials. Gage was in high spirits, and was 
flushed with the idea of an easy conquest. 

There were continual reports that the British intended 
to sally out of Boston ; and the Committee of Safety and 
the Council of "War were determined to prevent this if 
possible. On the 15th of June the Committee voted that 
immediate possession should be taken of " the hill, called 
Bunker's Hill, in Charlestown," and that " some one hill 
or hills on Dorchester Neck be Hkewise secured." The 
army was then placed in the following position : General 
Ward's headquarters were at Cambridge, where the cen- 
tre division of the army was stationed, consisting of fifteen 
Massachusetts regiments, the artillery under Colonel Grid- 
ley, and General Putnam's Connecticut troops. The right 
wing, under General Thomas, consisting of about four 
thousand troops, was at Roxbury. General Greene's Rhode 
Island forces, and Spencer's Connecticut regiment, were at 
Jamaica Plain. Of the left wing of the army, three com- 
panies under Gerrish were at Chelsea. Stark's New Hamp- 
shire regiment was at Medford ; Reed's regiment was at 
Charlestown Neck, with sentinels reaching to Bunker Hill. 
Including drummers, the provincial army numbered seven 
thousand six hundred and forty -four men.^ 

On Friday, the 16th of June, measures were taken to 
fortify Bunker Hill. Orders were issued to Colonel William 
Prescott, to Frye, Bridge, Knowlton, and Gridley, com- 
manding in all twelve hundred men, and supplied with 
a day's provisions and suitable intrenching tools, to pro- 

' Frothingham, Siege, 117, seq. 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 315 

ceed to Charlestown, and to fortify Bunker Hill. After 
a parade on Cambridge Common, and after listening to a 
fervent prayer from President Langdon, of Harvard Col- 
lege, the detachment commenced its march about nine 
o'clock in the evening. At Charlestown Neck the troops 
halted ; a portion of the troops proceeded to the lower 
part of the town as a guard, while the main body marched 
on over Bunker Hill. Ward's order was to " fortify Bun- 
ker Hill ; " but at a consultation, which was held by Pres- 
cott and the other officers, a position now known as Breed's 
Hill, seemed better adapted to the object of the expedition, 
and better suited to the daring spirit of the provincial yeo- 
haanry. Breed's Hill was accordingly chosen as the basis 
of operations ; and, as hurriedly as possible, the plan of 
the fortifications was marked out by Gridley, the tools 
■were distributed, and about midnight the men began to 
work. 

Anxious to the patriot laborers were the watches of that 
star-light night. In the waters below were anchored the 
British men-of-war, five in all, and several floating bat- 
teries. Along the shore could be heard at intervals the 
" All is well ! " of the American sentinels. Colonel Pres- 
cott " was often heard to say that his great anxiety that 
night was to have a screen raised, however slight, for his 
men, before they were attacked, which he expected would 
be early in the morning, as he knew it would be diffi- 
cult, if not quite impossible, to make raw troops, however 
full of patriotism, to stand in an open field against artillery 
and well-armed and well-disciplined soldiers. He there- 
fore strenuously urged on the work ; and every subaltern 
and private labored with spade and pickaxe, without inter- 
mission, through the night, and until they resumed their 



316 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

muskets near the middle of the next day. Never were 
men in worse condition for action, — exhausted by watch- 
ing, fatigue, and hunger, — and never did old soldiers 
behave better." As the sun rose, a redoubt, eight rods 
square and six feet high, was completed on the summit 
of the hill, where the monument now stands. On the east, 
was an extensive field ; and " in a line with this, run- 
ning down the north side of the hill toward the slough, 
was a breastwork, which, at its southern extremity, was 
separated from the redoubt by a narrow passage-way." 
The redoubt faced the town, and protected the south side 
of the hill ; in the rear was a passage, opening toward the 
slough. 

At early dawn, on the 17th of June, the fortifications 
were descried by sailors on board the men-of-war. The 
captain of the " Lively " opened fire at once ; and the 
roaring of the cannon created alarm in the British camp, 
and summoned the population of Boston into the streets. 
Whilst the cannonade continued from several of the frig- 
ates and the batteries. Gage called a council of M^ar. In 
the mean time Prescott himself mounted the 'parapet, and 
encouraged his men with words of humorous cheer. His 
tall, manly form was discerned by Gage, as he was re- 
connoitring the Americans through his glass. " Who is the 
person who appears to command ? " he asked of Coun- 
cillor Willard. The latter recognized his brother-in-law. 
"Will he fight?" asked Gage. "Yes, sir; he is an old 
soldier, and will fight as long as a drop of blood remains in 
his veins ! " " The works must be carried, then," concluded ' 
the general. 

As the day advanced, the heat became oppressive, and , 
the brave men behind the fortifiGations were sufferino- from 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 317 

the want of food and drink. Some of the officers urged 
Prescott to send for relief; but the latter refused to do 
so. "The enemy," he said, "would not dare to attack 
them ; and if they did, would be defeated ; the men who 
had raised the works were the best able to defend them ; 
already they had learned to despise the fire of the enemy ; 
they had the merit of the labor, and should have the 
honor of the victory." A little later, however, Prescott 
consented to send for additional troops and supplies, and 
Major John Brooks was despatched for this purpose. About 
eleven o'clock. General Ward ordered the whole of the 
regiments of Colonels Stark and Reed to re-enforce Colonel 
Prescott ; and at the same time the companies stationed at 
Chelsea were recalled. 

Meanwhile General Gage had resolved to carry the works, 
and, early' in the morning, had held a council of war for 
the purpose of determining on the plan of operations. " It 
is impossible for the rebels to withstand our arms a 
moment," remarked Gage to General Timothy Ruggles. 
" Sir," repliod the latter, " you do not know with whom 
you have to contend. These are the very men who con- 
quered Canada. I fought with them side by side ; I know 
them well ; they will fight bravely. My God, sir, your 
folly has ruined your cause ! " It was then decided to attack 
the fortifications in front ; and, at noon, ten companies 
of grenadiers, ten of light infantry, four battalions of in- 
fantry, with a corps of artillery, were embarked in boats 
from the North Battery and from the end of Long Wharf. 
Two ships of war moved up Charles River to join with 
the " Somerset," the floating batteries, and the battery on 
Copp's Hill, in firing on the works. It was a beautiful 
day ; the " sun was shining in meridian splendor ; and the 



318 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

scarlet uniforms, tlie glistening armor, the brazen artillery, 
the regular movement of the boats, the flashes of fire, and 
the belchings of smoke, formed a spectacle brilliant and 
imposing." At one o'clock the troops were landed at 
Moulton's Point, and were formed into three lines. The 
boats were all ordered back to Boston. 

General Howe, the commander of the force, having ex- 
amined the American works, and found them more for- 
midable than he had anticipated, applied to General Gage 
for re-enforcements. Pending the arrival of the latter, the 
troops dined. To many a brave man it proved his last 
meal. At two o'clock, and also at three, the British 
were re-enforced ; and the greatest anxiety prevailed at the 
intrenchments on Breed's Hill. At Cambridge there was 
noise and confusion. The bells were rung, the drums beat 
to arms, and orders were given for troops to march and 
oppose the enemy. The whole of the reserve, save Ward's 
own regiment, those of Gardner and Patterson, and part 
of Bridge's, marched over to Charlestown. General Joseph 
Warren, who " could not be constrained by the entreaty 
of his brethren of the Congress," felt it to be his duty 
to plunge into danger. On Bunker Hill he met General 
Putnam, who offered to receive orders from him. " I am 
here only as a volunteer," replied Warren. " I know 
nothing of your dispositions, nor will I interfere with 
them. Tell me where I can be most useful." Putnam 
directed him to the redoubt, saying, " There you will be 
covered." " Don't think I came to seek a place of safety," 
continued Warren, " but tell me where the onset will be 
most furious." Putnam again named the redoubt. Upon 
arriving at the redoubt, Warren was tendered the command 
by Colonel Prescott, who observed that the formea: had 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 319 

been appointed a major-general by the Provincial Congress, 
a few days before. " I shall take no command here," 
said Warren. " I have not yet received my commission. 
I came as a volunteer, with my musket, to serve under 
you, and shall be happy to learn of a soldier of your ex- 
perience." 

At three o'clock the American defences were lined nearly 
in the following manner : Colonel Prescott, with the original 
detachment, except the Connecticut troops, were stationed 
at the redoubt and the breastwork. Captain Gridley's 
artillery company held a position between the breastwork 
and rail fence, where it was soon joined by the artillery 
company of Captain Callender. On the right of the re- 
doubt were other troops ; and at the rail fence were the 
New Hampshire, Connecticut, and a few of the Massachu- 
setts forces. Here, also, was General Putnam at the be- 
ginning of action. The Massachusetts troops, as they came 
on to the field, "appear to have marched to the redoubt, 
and were directed to take the most advantageous positions. 
In doing this, parts of regiments, and even companies that 
came on together, broke their ranks, divided, and subse- 
quently fought in various parts of the field, in platoons or as 
individuals, rather than under regular commands." ^ 

The British troops were now all landed, and numbered, 
probably, not less than three thousand. They were com- 
manded by General Howe, an officer of merit and bravery ; 
and under him were Pigot, Nesbit, Abercrombie, Clarke, 
Butler, Williams, Bruce, Spendlove, Smelt, Mitchell, Pit- 
cairn, Short, Small, and Lords Percy and Rawdon. Pre- 
vious to the action. General Howe addressed his army. 
J' Remember, gentlemen," he said, " we have no recourse to 

* Frothingham. 



320 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

any resources, if we lose Boston, but to go on board our 
ships, which will be very disagreeable to us all." The 
batteries had already commenced firing, and a general dis- 
charge of the artillery was intended to cover the advance 
of the British columns. 

At length the troops moved forward in two divisions, — 
the right, under General Howe, toward the rail fence, the 
left, under General Pigot, to storm the breastwork and 
redoubt. To his chagrin. General Howe discovered that 
twelve pound balls had been sent to load his six pound 
guns, and he therefore ordered the pieces to be charged 
with grape. The advance of the artillery, however, was 
greatly impeded by the miry ground at the base of the 
bill, and that of the infantry was hindered by the tall 
grass and the fences. " Let us take the bull by the horns,", 
shouted the men, thinking to scatter the Americans at the 
first charge. " Wait until you see the white of their eyes, 
— aim at the handsome coats, — pick off the commanders," 
said the provincial officers. At length the enemy came 
within gunshot, — onlj'- eight rods separated the contend- 
ing parties. The order was given, — " Fire low ! " and 
from redoubt and breastwork a terrific volley mowed down 
the enemy. With " surly reluctance," General Pigot was 
obliged to retreat. In the mean time General Howe was 
leading the right wing against the rail fence. A mur- 
derous discharge welcomed him, and the flying bullets 
were true to their message. So great was the carnage, 
that the British columns were disconcerted, partly broken, 
and forced to retreat. The Americans supposed that they 
" had driven the enemy." They saw the veterans of Eng- 
land fleeing before their fire, and felt a new confidence in 
themselves. 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 321 

Colonel Prescott was sure, however, that the attack 
would be renewed ; and General Putnam rode forward to 
Bunker Hill, and to the rear of it, to urge on re-enforce- 
ments. Without loss of time, General Howe rallied his 
troops, and ordered another assault. They advanced as 
before, and under the same difficulties. At this juncture, 
Charlestown was set on fire ; and " turning their eyes 
thitherward, the Americans, to their horror, saw dense clouds 
of smoke ascending, and the forked flames, from churches 
and dwellings, shooting and glaring upon the evening sky." ^ 
" Sure I am," wrote Burgoyne, " nothing ever has or can 
be more dreadfully terrible than what was to be seen or 
heard at this time. The most incessant discharge of guns 
that ever was heard with mortal ears." When the British 
had advanced within six rods, the Americans fired. Whole 
ranks of officers and men were prostrated ; stream after 
stream of flame continued to belch forth ; the ground in 
front of the works was strewn with the dead and wounded. 
" My God ! " exclaimed General Putnam, " I never saw 
such a carnage of the human race." In vain did the. sur- 
viving officers urge on the men. They were compelled 
to give way, and to leave the ground in confusion. 

The British did not rally again until after some time had 
elapsed. Putnam was still on Bunker Hill, urging forward 
re-enforcements ; and General Ward was at Cambridge, 
trying to calm disorder. In the redoubt alone order pre- 
vailed. " Colonel Prescott remained at his post, determined 
in his purpose, undaunted in his bearing, inspiring his com- 
mand with hope and confidence, and yet chagrined that, 
in this hour of peril and glory, adequate support had not 
reached him. He passed round the lines to encourage his 

' Barry, iii. 35. 

41 



322 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

men, and assured them that if the British were once more 
driven back, thej could not be rallied again. His men 
cheered him, as they replied, ' We are ready for the red 
coats again ! ' But his worst apprehensions, as to ammu- 
nition, were realized as the report was made to him that 
a few artillery cartridges constituted the whole stock of 
powder on hand. He ordered them to be opened, and the 
powder to be distributed. He charged his soldiers ' not 
to waste a kernel of it, but to make it certain that every 
shot should tell.' He directed the few who had bayonets 
to be stationed at the points most likely to be scaled. These 
were the only preparations it was in his power to make to 
meet his powerful ant6gonist." ^ 

A third time General Howe ordered his men to advance. 
To conquer or die, was his fixed resolve. He himself 
led the grenadiers and light infantry in front of the breast- 
work, while Clinton and Pigot proceeded, with the extreme 
left, to scale the redoubt. So fierce was the attack, that 
Colonel Prescott became convinced that the redoubt must 
be carried. The moment was trying, but he continued 
to give his orders coolly. Most of his men had remain- 
ing, only one or two rounds of ammunition, a few not 
more than three. They were directed to reserve their 
fire until the enemy were within twenty yards. The Brit- 
ish came on, and the Americans fired. For a moment only, 
the columns wavered ; and then, recovering in an in- 
stant, they sprang forward, and scaled the redoubt. 

Colonel Prescott ordered a retreat. While some of his 
men leaped the walls, others hewed their way through 
the enemy's ranks ; he himself " did not run, but stepped 
long, with his sword up," escaping unharmed. At this 

' Frothingham. 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 323 

period, the brave Warren, reluctant to flee, was pierced 
by a ball, and left on the field ; Gridley and Bridge were 
wounded ; and Colonel Gardner received his death wound. 
But still their men fought on, reckless of the well-directed 
fire of the enemy. The force at the rail fence maintained 
their ground with great firmness, and, by resisting every 
attempt to turn their flank, saved the main body from being 
cut off. These brave men, noticing the retreat of their 
brethren from the redoubt, " gave ground, but with more 
regularity than could have been expected of troops who 
had been no longer under discipline." The whole body 
of the Americans was now in full retreat, covered by 
Putnam and his Connecticut troops, who " dared the ut- 
most fury of the enemy in the rear of the whole." On 
Bunker Hill, where the provincials halted, General Put- 
nam counselled a renewal of the engagement. " In God's 
name," he shouted, " form, and give them one shot more ! " 
and taking his own post near a field piece, he " seemed 
resolved to brave the foe alone." The brow of Bunker 
Hill was a place of great slaughter, and to remain longer 
was to invite instant death. Over the Neck, therefore, 
the Americans crossed, and paused on Winter and Pros- 
pect Hills. 

At five o'clock, the British planted their flag on Bunker 
Hill. Thus ended the battle. The loss of the Americans, 
in all the engagements, was one hundred and fifteen killed, 
three hundred and five wounded, and thirty missing. The 
loss of the British, according to the official account, was 
two hundred and twenty-six killed, and eight hundred and 
twenty-eight wounded. 

The battle of Bunker Hill was the first great battle of 
the revolutionary contest. It proved the quality of the 



324 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

American soldier, and was a victory, with all the moral 
effect of victory, under the name of a defeat. On the 
19th of June, General Gage, exasperated by his reverses, 
issued a proclamation, requiring all the inhabitants who had 
arms, " immediately to surrender them at the court house." 
Only the tories obeyed. Hostilities had now begun, and 
it behooved both parties to fortify their positions as speedily 
as possible. By the Americans intrenchments were thrown 
up on Winter and . Prospect Hills ; the headquarters at 
Cambridge were strengthened ; a complete line of circum- 
vallation was extended from the Charles to the Mystio 
River, and the right wing at Roxbury was re-enforced. 

On the 3d of July, General Washington, having arrived 
in Cambridge from Philadelphia, assumed command of -the 
American army. This army numbered nearly fifteen thou- 
sand men, of whom Massachusetts had furnished nine thou- 
sand, and Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire 
the residue. The first care of the commander-in-chief was 
to visit the different posts, and to reconnoitre the enemy's 
works. He next applied himself to the task of remodel- 
ling the army, which he had found to be "a mixed mul- 
titude of people, under very little discipline, . order, or 
government." Orders were then issued for the levying of 
fresh troops, and a request was made for gunpowder. 

Meanwhile Washington was laying his plans for the siege 
of Boston. To this end, the American works on Winter 
Hill were forwarded, and on the 26th of August, Ploughed 
Hill, now Mount Benedict, was occupied and intrenched. 
The month of September passed quietly. Slight skirmishes, 
indeed, occurred between the British regulars and the Amer- 
ican sharpshooters, but no remarkable engagement. As 
the season advanced, the weather became cooler, and prep- 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 325 

arations were made for quartering the British troops in 
the houses of the inhabitants. In the midst of these move- 
ments Gage was recalled, and General Howe was ap- 
pointed to succeed him. The latter, although a much 
abler, and more daring officer than his predecessor, was 
not insensible to his critical position. To Lord Dartmouth 
he confessed frankly that " the opening of the campaign 
from this quarter would be attended with great hazard, as 
well from the strength of the countr}'- as from the in- 
trenched position the rebels had taken." Notwithstanding 
his prospects of ill success, Howe devoted himself zeal- 
ously to the improvement of his defences. He repaired 
the redoubt on Bunker Hill, and raised fortifications on 
Boston Neck. He hastened, also, the quartering of his 
troops. The Old South Meeting House was cleared out 
for a riding school ; redoubts were thrown up on the Com- 
mon ; an opening was made across the Neck from water 
to water, and works were erected to check incursions from 
Roxbury. Four British men-of-war lay anchored in the 
harbor ; iaiid the entire force of the British, including 
soldiers, sailors, and marines, made an army of about ten 
thousand men. 

In England, at this time, the current of public feeling 
was turning against the colonies. It was openly announced 
that " the violent measures towards America are fairly 
adopted, and countenanced by a majority of individuals 
of all ranks, professions, or occupations in the country." ^ 
When the petition, forwarded to the king by the Conti- 
nental Congress in September, arrived, it was received in 
silence ; and three days later the agents of the colonies 
Were informed that " no answer would be given." ^ The 

' Ramsay's Am. Rev., i. 280. * Mahon, Hist., vi. 69. 



326 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Duke of Grafton regretted the course of the ministry, and 
said that " if deputies from the United Colonies could 
not be acknowledged b}^ the king, other expedients might 
be devised by which the wishes and expectations of, his 
Majesty's American subjects might be stated and properly 
considered." ^ Shortly afterwards the duke held an inter- 
view with the king, during which the latter affirmed that 
he had no intention of yielding to the colonies, and " en- 
deavored to demonstrate, by calm and dispassionate reason- 
ing, the justice, the policy, and the necessity of this war, 
and the absolute certainty of ultimate success." The duke 
refused to sanction such measures, and at once resigned 
his position as lord of the privy seal. The Earl of Dart- 
mouth was appointed as his successor ; and the American 
secretaryship was bestowed upon Lord George Germain, 
formerly Lord Sackville. In October the king rehearsed 
from the throne the story of the late proceedings in Massa- 
chusfetts, and added, " It has now become the part of wis- 
dom to put a speedy end to these disorders by the most 
decisive exertions. For this purpose I have increased my 
naval establishment, and greatly augmented my land forces, 
but in such a manner as may be the least burdensome to 
my kingdoms." ^ A month later the prohibitory bill of Lord 
North, repealing the Boston Port Bill, and the two restrain- 
ing acts of the previous session, but interdicting all com- 
merce with the insurgent colonies, was passed. Well might 
Burke exclaim, in view of such legislation, " It affords 
no matter for very pleasing reflection to observe that our 
subjects dimhiish as our laws increase." 

In the mean time the war was progressing in Massachu- 
setts, and in other of the New England colonies. The 

' Lord Mahon, Hist., vi. 71. ^ Lord Mahon, Hist., vi. 70. 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 327 

reorganization of the army, however, was still a matter 
of difficulty; and, although recruiting orders were issued, 
enlistments were very slow. Washington was well nigh 
discouraged. " Such a dearth of public spirit," he wrote, 
" and want of virtue ; such stock-jobbing, and fertility 
in all the low arts, to obtain advantage on one hand or 
another, in this great change of military arrangement, I 
never saw before, and pray God I never may be witness 
to again. . . . Could I have foreseen what I have expe- 
rienced, and am likely to experience, no consideration upon 
earth should have induced me to accept this command. 
A regiment, or any subordinate department, would have 
been accompanied with ten times the satisfaction, and per- 
haps "ten times the honor." ^ Notwithstanding his numer- 
ous discouragements, Washington was resolved to conclude, 
if possible, what he had already begun — the siege of 
Boston. 

In November intrenchments were completed on Miller's 
Hill by a detachment under General Heath, w^lthout re- 
ceiving any annoyance from the enemy. December came-; 
and still the British showed no inclination to fight. Their 
silence, indeed, was unaccountable. When, at length. Gen- 
eral Putnam undertook to raise fortifications on the hill 
adjacent to Lechmere's Point, he was cannonaded by the 
men-of-war which lay near by, but was not prevented 
from continuing on with his work. Within a brief period, 
two redoubts were thrown up in this locality, which gave 
to the Americans a commanding position. The result also 
encouraged them to attempt greater achievements. " Give 
us powder and authority," they said, " and Boston can 
be set in flames." The aspect of affairs began to be more 

' Sparks's Washington, iii. 178-179. 



328 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

cheering ; and the increased zeal and prompt movements 
of the people gave " infinite satisfaction " to the commander- 
in-chief. 

While the position of the American army continued to 
grow better, that of the British army became more and 
more distressing. At the beginning of the new year, the 
small-pox raged in Boston, and made sad havoc with the 
troops ; provisions were scarce ; fuel was wanting, and 
the severity of the weather gave rise to intense suffering. 
In January, Washington called a council of war. The 
question of an attack on Boston was submitted, and urged 
on the ground that it was " indispensably necessary to make 
a bold attempt to conquer the ministerial troops before 
they could be re-enforced in the spring." ^ The com- 
mander-in-chief had been desirous of offensive operations 
against the besieged army in that place for some months. 
He wished to drive them from the capital of Massachu- 
setts, and at the same time to prevent their falling upon 
any other port of America with a sufficient force to cause 
danger or alarm. But his prudence was too great to en- 
gage in an enterprise, when there was so much hazard, 
which might be highly injurious to the country, and when 
the general opinion was against such an attempt. Wash- 
ington viewed the situation with many misgivings. " My 
reflection upon it," he wrote, " produces many an uneasy 
hour, when all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few 
people know the predicament we are in on a thousand 
accounts; fewer still will believe, if any disaster happens 
to these lines, from what cause it flows. If . I should be 
able to rise superior to these, and many other difficulties 
which might be enumerated, I shall most religiously be- 

' Frothingham, Siege, 286. 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 329 

lieve that the finger of Providence is in it, to blind the eyes 
of our enemies ; for surely, if we get well through this 
month, it must be for want of their knowing the disadvan- 
tages we labor under." ^ 

In February a day was fixed upon to take possession 
of Dorchester Heights, " with a view of drawing out the 
enemy." Washington wrote to the Council of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay, asking " whether it may not be best to direct 
the militia of certain towns most contiguous to Dorchester 
and Roxbury to repair" to the lines at those places, with 
their arms, ammunition, and accoutrements, instantly upon 
a given signal." Such a proceeding was approved ; and 
to facilitate it, ordnance were mounted at the works on 
Lechmere's Point, and everything made ready for offen- 
sive operations. 

Early in March, the camp of the Americans presented 
" indications of an approaching conflict." From Miller's 
Hill, Lechmere's Point, and Lamb's Dam in Roxbury, a 
severe cannonade was commenced ; and, under cover of 
this fire, two thousand men, under General Thomas, with 
six twelve pounders and six or eight field pieces, marched 
and took possession of Dorchester Heights. When the light 
of day exposed them to the full view of the British in 
Boston, they had thrown up a sufficient breastwork for 
protection and security in prosecuting the object of their 
enterprise. The enemy were surprised at the spectacle. 
" I know not what I shall do," said General Howe. " These 
rebels have done more in one night than my whole army 
would have done in months." "If the Americans are not 
dislodged," remarked Admiral Shuldham,' " not one of his 
Majesty's ships can be kept in the harbor." A council 

' Sparks's Washington, iii. 240. , 

42 



330 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of war was accordingly convened, and it was decided to 
attempt to force the works. A large body of troops was 
ordered to embark on board the transports, with a view 
of landing " in the hollow between the farthest of the two 
fortified hills and the Castle." The Americans " clapped 
their hands for joy, and wished them to come on." It 
was the anniversary of the massacre of 1770, and Washing- 
ton had only to remind his army of this fact to "add fuel 
to the martial fire already kindled, and burning with un- 
common intenseness." A bloody scene was anticipated, 
however ; and even the enemy remarked, " It will be an- 
other Bunker Hill affair, or worse." But neither party 
was right in its calculations. Owing to a fierce storm, the 
transports were unable to reach their destination, and the 
projected assault was, therefore, reluctantly abandoned. 

The 7th of March was a busy day in Boston, for " both 
troops and tories were preparing to quit the town, and to 
carry off all they could of their military stores and val- 
uable effects." On the following day, Washington was 
informed by the selectmen that General Howe had no in- 
tention of destroying the town, " unless his troops were 
molested, during their embarkation or departure, by the 
armed force without." But the commander-in-chief cared 
more for the success of his enterprise than for the pres- 
ervation of Boston, and immediately sent a strong detach- 
ment to throw up a battery on Nook's Hill, at Dorchester 
Point, with the design of molesting the enemy. 

For a whole week the British urged forward their prepara- 
tions for departure, and only waited for a favorable wind 
to enable them to embark. On the 17th, satisfied that 
" neither hell, Hull, nor Halifax could afford worse shelter," 
General Howe evacuated the town, leaving behind him 



BUNKER HILL, AND THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 331 

a number of spiked cannon and other accoutrements of war. 
Fifteen hundred tories accompanied him. Their departure 
was soon discovered by the Americans ; and while General 
Putnam entered the town in one direction, a detachment of 
Ward's troops, under Colonel Learned, marched in from 
Roxbury, and took possession. 

Thus were the British driven from the soil of Massachu- 
setts, the " refractory colony " remained unsubdued, and the 
zeal of its sons became a watchword throughout the country. 
The conduct of Washington during his command near Bos- 
ton was approved by the Continental Congress ; his caution 
was commended, and his great attention to the organization 
of the army was praised. A few days after the British left 
Boston, Washington entered, and there remained for a short 
season, giving directions respecting the military stores aban- 
doned by the enemy, and making arrangements for the de- 
fence of the town when he should leave the colony for New 
York. 

The condition of the once flourishing metropolis exhibited 
a melancholy proof of the ravages of war. " Some of the 
churches were essentially injured, having been used as stables 
for the British cavalry ; and many houses and stores were 
razed to the foundations, and the materials used for fuel ; 
ornamental and fruit trees were cut down for the same pur- 
pose. The streets were filled with dirt and filth, which had 
been accumulating for nine or ten months ; and the small-pox 
was raging in various parts of the town. This gloomy 
scene formed a most striking contrast to the appearance of 
the place twelve months before." ^ 

' Bradford, ii. 96. 



532 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER X^VI. 
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

It does not lie within the province of the local historian 
to trace in full the progress of the Revolution. It has pre- 
viously been observed that the vengeance of the British 
ministry was, at first, aimed chiefly at Massachusetts ; that 
here the struggle for freedom began ; and that up to the 
epring of 1776, the movements of the war, with but few 
exceptions, were confined to these limits. As the war pro- 
gressed, however, the scene of activity was enlarged, and 
what was formerly a mere flame, now burst forth into a 
conflagration. In the present work, therefore, only a sum- 
mary of events bearing directly upon the history of Massa- 
chusetts will be given. 

After the evacuation of Boston, General Ward assumed 
command of the Massatjlltisetts forces, and as early as was 
practicable, fortified Boston harbor. Three new regiments, 
with six companies of artillery, were raised at the expense 
of the state ; under the direction of General Lincoln, forti- 
fications were erected at Salem, Marblehead, Cape Ann, and 
Plymouth ; and the private armed vessels, and those in com- 
mission of the province, were employed in the service of the 
country. Frequent alarms in the months of May and June 
gave much uneasiness to the people of Massachusetts, and 
fears were entertained of another visit from the British. A 
few of the enemy's vessels still remained in the harbor ; and 
the General Court resolved to drive them away if possible. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 333 

On the morning of the 13th of June, a large force took post 
at Nantasket and Long Island, and began a heavy cannon- 
ade upon the British. The situation of the latter soon 
became hazardous ; and they were forced to put to sea with 
their shattered fleet, after blowing up the lighthouse, the 
only injury which it was in their power to commit. 

Meanwhile the state of affairs elsewhere in the country 
required the assistance of Massachusetts. Fresh troops were 
constantly in demand. The General Court voted to raise 
five thousand men for six months for the national army. 
In every town committees were appointed to direct the 
enlistments ; a bounty and a month's pay in advance were 
given to each soldier ; and the sum of fifty thousand pounds 
was appropriated by the state to defray current expenses. 
Notwithstanding these inducements, the local jealousies 
which prevailed in the colonies greatly retarded the raising 
of troops. These were soon calmed down, however, and 
of the five thousand men raised in June, two thousand were 
sent to New York, and the retit were despatched to the 
northern department. In the following month other regi- 
ments were ordered to New York* and to Canada. Such 
was the need of troops in September, that every fifth man 
in the province was ordered to march to the neighborhood 
of New York. In communicating the resolves of Congress 
at this time, Hancock urged the General Court and the 
people, by every consideration that could influence honor- 
able men and freemen, to assist in the great work of saving 
the country from tyranny and oppression. To those who 
live in times of peace, it appears almost incredible, what 
sufferings were endured and hazards met by the brave men 
of that eventful period. 

On the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee, in behalf of 



\y 



334 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the Virginia delegates, submitted iu the hall of Congress in 
Philadelphia, the following important resolutions : — 

" That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to 
be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved from 
all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political 
connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, 
and ought to be, totally dissolved. 

" That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual 
measures for forming foreign alliances. 

" That a plan of confederation be prepared, and trans- 
mitted to the respective colonies, for their consideration and 
approbation." 

These resolves were seconded by John Adams ; but owing 
" to some other business," it was mutually agreed that the 
members of the Congress should delay until the next day, 
"in order to take the same into their consideration." At the 
appointed time, the resolutions were taken into consideration, 
and the debate which ensued was " the most copious and 
the most animated ever held on the subject." John Adams 
defended the proposed measures, as " objects of the most 
stupendous magnitude, in which the lives and liberties of 
millions yet unborn were intimately interested," and the 
climax " of a revolution the most complete, unexpected, and 
remarkable of any in the history of nations." ^ A vote on 
the question was deferred until the following Monday. 

On the 10th, Edward Rutledge moved that " the question 
be postponed for three weeks." The whole day, until seven 
o'clock in the evening, was consumed in the debate ; when 
" it appearing," says Jefferson, " that the. colonies of New 
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and 
South Carolina were not yet matured for falling from the 

» Works, ix. 391. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 335 

parent stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state, 
it was thought most prudent to wait a while for them." ^ At 
the same time, it was voted that a committee should be 
appointed to prepare " a declaration in conformity to the 
resolution on independence." Accordingly, on the next day, 
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Rpger 
Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston were named as a com- 
mittee ; and " it fell to Jefferson to write " the declaration, 
" both because he represented Virginia, from which the 
proposition had gone forth, and because he had been elected 
by the largest number of votes." On the very day when Mr. 
Lee offered his resolutions, he was called home on account 
of an illness in his family. Had he remained until the form- 
ing of the committee, he would, by courtesy, have been 
designated as its chairman, and in this event, might have 
been the author of the declaration. 

Jefferson prepared the draught of the Declaration of In- 
dependence ; and on the 28th of June he presented it to 
Congress, where it was " ordered to lie on the table." On 
the 1st of July, " probably fifty-one delegates " ^ assembled 
in the Old State House in Philadelphia. After attending to 
certain preliminary business. Congress resolved itself " into 
a committee of the whole to take into consideration the res- 
olution respecting independency," and voted to refer the 
draught of the declaration to this committee. For a while 
the silence of death prevailed; ever)'- heart beat nervously 
with apprehension ; every eye was bent towards him, who 
had dared to second the resolution of freedom. In the midst 
of the quiet, the new delegates from New Jersey arose and 
requested a " discussion of the question," and " a recapitula- 
of the arguments used in former debates." 

1 Jefferson's Works, i. 12-14. * Bancroft, viii. 459. 



336 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Mr. Adams undertook to reply. He set forth the jus- 
tice, the necessity, and the advantages of a separation from 
Great Britain ; he dwelt* on the neglect and insult with 
which their petitions had been treated by the king, and 
on that vindictive spirit, which showed, itself in the employ- 
ment of German troops, whose arrival was hourly expected, 
to compel the colonists to unconditional surrender. He con- 
cluded, by urging the present time as the most suitable for 
resolving on independence, inasmuch as it had become the 
first wish and the last instruction of the communities they 
represented. 

The question before the committee was the resolution on 
Independence submitted by Mr. Lee on the 7th of June. 
After being debated upon a whole day, it passed by the vote 
of nine colonies — New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connec- 
ticut, Rhode Island, New Jerse}'', Maryland, Virginia, North 
Carolina, and Georgia. " South Carolina and Pennsylvania," 
says Jefferson, " voted against it. Delaware had but two 
members present, and they were divided. The delegates 
from New York declared they were for it themselves, and 
were assured their constituents were for it ; but that their in- 
structions having been drawn near a twelvemonth before, 
when reconciliation was still the general object, they were 
enjoined by them to do nothing which should impede that 
object. They therefore thought themselves not justifiable in 
voting on either side, and asked leave to withdraw from the 
question ; which was given them." The committee rose, and 
Harrison reported the resolution to the House ; but at the re- 
quest of Rutledge, determination upon it was postponed till 
the next day. Rutledge cherished the hope that his col- 
leagues " would then join in it for the sake of unanimity." ^ 

' Jefferson's Works, i. 18. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 337 

On the 2d of July, Congress resumed its consideration of 
the resolution. At ten o'clock twelve colonies, without a 
dissenting voice, resolved : — That these United Colo- 
nies ARE, AND OF RIGHT OUGHT TO BE, FREE AND INDE- 
PENDENT STATES ; THAT THEY ARE ABSOLVED FROM ALL 
ALLEGIANCE TO THE BRITISH CrOWN, AND THAT ALL 

political connection between them and the state of 
Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. 

Without delay Congress again went into a committee of 
the whole, and took from the table the draught of the Dec- 
laration of Independence. In the evening John Adams 
wrote home : — " The greatest question was decided which 
ever was debated in America, and a greater, perhaps, never 
was nor will be decided among men. . . . The 2d day of 
July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history 
of America ; to be celebrated by succeeding generations as 
the great anniversary festival, commemorated as the day of 
deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty, 
from one end of the continent to the other, from this time 
forward forevermore." ^ 

On the evening of the 4th of July, the Declaration, having 
been discussed and amended in committee, was reported to 
the House, and adopted by twelve states, unanimously, as 
" The Declaration by the Representatives of the United 
States in Congress assembled." Thus was consummated that 
legislation, which, sustained by long struggle and suffering, 
of which history affords few parallels, struck from the 
British realm its most promising possession. On this event- 
ful day — the day which announced not only the Birth of a 
Nation, but also the establishment of a national government 
— the Declaration was signed by every member present, 

' Works, ix. 419. 

43 



338 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

except Mr. Dickinson,^ and was published in the Philadel- 
phia press. Authenticated copies were transmitted to " the 
several committees and conventions, and the commanding 
officers of the continental troops ; " and in each of the states 
the Declaration was proclaimed at the head of the army.^ 
Before Congress adjourned on the 4th, it resolved " that Dr. 
Franklin, Mr. J. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee 
to prepare a device for a Seal for the United States of 
America." On the 15th, New York signed the paper ; and 
thus the Declaration of Independence became the act of the 
thirteen United States. 

Four days later Congress voted that " the Declaration 
passed on the 4th of July be fairly engrossed on parchment, 
and that the same, when engrossed, be signed b}'" every 
member of Congress." On the 2d of August, the " Declara- 
tion being engrossed and compared at the table, was signed 
^by the members ; " and on the 20th of January, 1777, it 
was voted that an authenticated copy of the Declaration, 
with the names of the signers, be sent to each of the United 
States, with the request that it be put on record. 

The Declaration was gloriously welcomed in all the states. 
Patriots rested from their labors ; the bells rang pseans of 
joy ; the militarj'- paraded ; .cannon roared with martial 
salutes, and imposing assemblies proclaimed the fervor of 
the celebrations. From north to south, from the enemy's 
lines to the borders of civilization, acclamation was unani- 
mous. The voice of Georgia was the voice of New England. 
"Let us remember," said the devoted sons of the south, 
" America is free and independent ; that she is, and will be, 
with the blessing of the Almighty, great among the nations 
of the earth. Let this encourage us in well doing, to fight 

' Jefferson's Works, i. 19, 120. * Idem, i. 120-122. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 339 

for our rights and privileges, for all that is near and dear 
to us. May God give us His blessing, and let all the people 
say ' Amen.' " ^ On the 18th of July the Declaration was 
publicly read from the balcony of the State House in Boston. 
The reading was followed by a grand parade ; the King's 
Arms were taken down, and a dinner, free to all, was given 
on the occasion.^ 

The several states were now considered sovereign, as well 
as independent. They had publicly declared their freedom ; 
but it still remained for them to maintain it even at the cost 
of life. When the autumn opened, the condition of affairs 
was far from encouraging. Provisions were scarce, and the 
army was daily diminishing. It became necessary for Con- 
gress to recruit troops on a larger scale than ever before, — 
and eighty-eight regiments, or seventy thousand men, were 
ordered to be enlisted for three years. Of this number 
Massachusetts furnished more than one-sixth. 

At the beginning of the new year, the enlistments were 
recommenced, and continued until the following summer. 
" We entreat you," said the General Court to the people, 
" for the sake of that religion, for the enjoyment whereof 
your ancestors fled to this country, for the sake of your laws 
and future felicity, to act vigorously and firmly in this 
critical situation of your country ; and we doubt not but 
that your noble exertions, under the smiles of Heaven, will 
insure you that success and freedom due to the wise man and 
the patriot." ^ In February, the General Court ordered a 
new issue of paper money to the amount of one hundred 
and twenty-five thousand pounds, and a tax of one hundred 
thousand pounds. 

' Force's Archives, 5 Series, i. 882. ' Bradford, ii. 131. 

' Austin's Life of Gerry, i. 206. 



340 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. ' 

Meanwhile the naval armament of Massachusetts, includ- 
ing the vessels purchased by Congress, and several smaller 
privateers, were cruising on the coast and in the region of 
the "West Indies, with success. A large number of richly- 
laden ships were thus captured by the Americans ; and it 
was estimated that from July, 1775, to Januarj'-, 1777, there 
were seized English merchant ships to the value of a million 
and a half sterling, besides a number of transports bearing 
provisions destined for the British troops. In the summer 
of 1777, an expedition was projected for the defence and 
relief of the people of Nova Scotia, living on the Bay of 
Fundy, who were friendly to the United States, and were, 
accordingly, frequently harassed by the British. A regiment 
was raised in Maine, and a naval force, such as was supposed 
would be necessary, was procured for the purpose. But 
unexpected difficulties arose in the prosecution of the plan ; 
and after much delay it was totally abandoned. 

"Whilst this project was being considered, the British army, 
under the command of General Burgoyne, was meeting with 
repeated successes at the northward and in Canada. Appre- 
hensions were excited that it would soon make its wa}^ to 
Albany, unless suddenly checked by a strong re-enforcement 
from the militia of the New England States. No time was 
to be lost. Several companies from Suffolk and Middlesex 
were called out to protect the capital, and to guard the 
stores deposited there and at Cambridge and "Watertown ; 
and the residue comprising as many troops as could be spared 
were sent to strengthen the army of General Gates. The 
junction was completed just at the right moment ; for a few 
days later, a body of the armj^, under the gallant Stark, 
defeated, near Bennington, a detachment of fifteen hundred 
British, under Colonel Baum. On the 19th of September, 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 341 

the Americans gained a victory in an engagement which took 
place near Saratoga ; and on the 7th of October, a third 
encounter also resulted in their favor. Burgoyne had now- 
penetrated the country so far that he could not retreat with- 
out disgrace. Every day his situation became more perilous ; 
and on the 19th of October, surrounded by a large army, he 
was forced to surrender his troops to the Americans. The 
prisoners of war were marched to the vicinit}'- of Boston, 
and quartered in barracks on Winter and Prospect Hills. 
After this achievement, which was called " the turning point 
of the war of revolution in America," the greater part of the 
Continental army was marched from Saratoga to join Wash- 
ington near Philadelphia, and a few weeks later, went into 
winter quarters at Valley Forge. 

The war, thus far, had been attended with enormous ex- 
pense, and the country was burdened with debt. When, in 
November, the General Court met, several important subjects 
demanded their attention. Congress had recently recom- 
mended to the states to raise by tax five millions of dollars ; 
and eight hundred and twenty thousand dollars were re- 
quired of Massachusetts. To meet the demand, the General 
Court voted to raise seventy-five thousand pounds immedi- 
ately by loans, and two hundred and forty thousand pounds 
by tax. Two new regiments were ordered to be raised to 
serve in Rhode Island ; and some of the militia were called 
out for the defence of the sea coast. 

Ardent and spirited appeals were issued to the people 
to arouse them to exertion. " Act like yourselves," it 
was said. " Arouse at the call of Washington and of your 
country, and you will soon be crowned with glory, inde- 
pendence, and peace. Present ease and interest we must 
part with for a time ; and let us rejoice at the sacri- 



342 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

fice." ^ Through the spring and summer of 1778 the pres- 
ence of a large British force at Newport caused continual 
alarm, and the Americans conceived the project of expelling 
them. In August, the troops in Rhode Island under General 
Sullivan were re-enforced by fresh militia from Massachu- 
setts, until the army amounted in all to about ten thousand 
men. The enemy, under Sir Robert Pigot, stationed at New- 
port,, numbered sixty-five hundred. In this expedition the 
Marquis de Lafayette and ]\Iajor General Greene rendered 
efficient service. 

On the 9th of August, about eight thousand of the Ameri- 
cans captured two of the enemy's forts, and drove the 
British nearer the town. The advancing army then secured 
a safe position, and awaited the arrival of the French fleet, 
under Count d'Estaing, which had recently appeared off the 
coast. But a tempest suddenly shattered the fleet ; and the 
British, taking courage, ventured to make an assault upon 
the American troops. The latter held their ground, until 
compelled to retreat from the island. The want of success 
in this expedition was the more mortifying, as it was the 
third attempt made, within eighteen months, to drive the 
British from this part of New England. Before Sullivan and 
his forces quitted Rhode Island the French fleet repaired to 
Boston.2 

In the summer of this year, British commissioners arrived 
at New York to make propositions for a suspension of hos- 
tilities. The defeat of Burgoyne had " awakened in England 
a desire for peace." Congress unhesitatingly refused to 
accept the offers of the commissioners ; and the latter, cha- 
grined at their failure, declared that such persistency would 
be considered as a crime of the most aggravated land, and 

' Boston Gazette, for Jan. 6, 1778. * Gordon, Am. Kev., ii. 350, seq. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 343 

gave the people forty days to return to their allegiance, or 
abide the consequences. The reply of Congress was equally 
firm and decisive, and it affirmed that " since their incorri- 
gible dispositions could not be touched by kindness or com- 
passion, it became their duty, by other means, to vindicate the 
rights of humanity." The response closed, by saying, " As 
we are not moved by any light and hasty suggestions of 
anger or revenge, so, through every possible change of for- 
tune, we shall adhere to this our determiniation." ^ 

In November, General Gates superseded General Heath 
in the command of the forces stationed in Massachusetts ; 
but remained in the state only until the following spring. 
At the opening of the new year, the whole country, bur- 
dened with debt and an increased suffering, was in gloom. 
Congress had recently called for a loan of fifteen millions of 
dollars ; and of this sum two millions were apportioned to 
Massachusetts. More men were likewise demanded in addi- 
tion to those already sent to the Continental army. In June, 
Massachusetts, with the consent of the General Congress, 
planned an expedition for the expulsion of the British from 
the Penobscot. In Maine the undertaking was popular, 
because the force of the enemy was known to be small, with 
no prospect of a re-enforcement. Towards the last of July, 
a fleet consisting of nineteen armed vessels, " as beautiful a 
flotilla as had ever appeared in the eastern waters," under 
the command of Richard Saltonstall, of New Haven, arrived 
before Castiue, where the British had erected a fortress. 
The land forces were commanded by Solomon Lovell, of 
Weymouth. On the 28th the Americans effected a landing, 
and were twice repulsed. After several days of cannonad- 
ing, seven British frigates entered the bay, and completely 

' Jour. Cont. Cong., for Oct. 13, 1778. 



344 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

routed or destroyed the continental flotilla. The army- 
straggled in broken squads to the Kennebec settlements; 
and the whole couutr}'- was filled with " grief and murmurs." 
Castine was held by the enemy until 1783. 

The years 1780 and 1781 were distinguished by few inci- 
dents bearing immediately upon the history of Massachusetts, 
That the times were gloomy no one can doubt. The life- 
blood of the nation had been poured out like water ; and 
everywhere there were homes made desolate, and cities and 
dwellings falling rapidly to decay. The debt of Massachu- 
setts at this time was nominally two hundred millions of 
dollars ; though on the calculation of forty for one, the 
difference between the bills to be paid and specie was so 
great, that the debt in reality was not above five millions. 
The people loudly complained of the heavy debt of the state, 
and charged the General Court with a want of economy. 
But never before had the expenses of the state been so great ; 
and in view of what public services were performed, and 
what numbers of men were employed in the army at different 
times, it is truly wonderful that the credit of the state was 
not wholly lost. It must be remembered, also, that "most 
public purchases were made under disadvantages, and it was 
well known bj'- those who served the state, or furnished 
articles at the request of its agents, that the day of payment 
was far distant." Perhaps in no country, under such strin- 
gent circumstances, were there ever fewer defaulters, or less 
loss to the public interests. 

After the war had continued seven years " on the grossest 
impolicy," ^ the English government again began to think 
of peace. In February, 1782, General Conway made the 
preliminary motion on the subject ; but it was rejected by a 

• Mahon, Hist, of Eng., vii. 124. 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 345 

majority of one. Opposition became so strong, and the gov- 
ernment so weak, that in March, Lord North resigned, and 
a new ministry was formed, with Rockingham at the head 
of the treasury, and Shelburne second secretary of state. A 
day or two later Franklin, who was then at Paris, wrote a 
letter to Shelburne, informing him of the appointment on 
the part of the American government of five commissioners, 
to open and conclude a treaty of peace. Franklin himself 
was one of these commissioners. 

In the following month Richard Oswald, an agent on the 
part of the English government, held a conference with the 
American commissioners, and from Franklin received a paper 
suggesting that to prevent any future disturbance, " Eng- 
land should not only acknowledge the independence of the 
thirteen United States, but cede to them, also, the province 
of Canada." This proposition was rejected by Shelburne ; 
and the cabinet presented the abstract of a treaty on a dif- 
ferent basis, • — admitting the independence of the states, but 
leaving other matters to be restored as they stood at the 
peace of 1763. At the same time Thomas Grenville, the 
friend of Fox, was sent by the British government to treat 
with Vergennes, the prime minister of France. 

The separate negotiations clashed with each other in several 
particulars. Nevertheless, on the 30th of November, the 
provisional articles of peace were signed at Paris, by the four 
American commissioners on one side, and Mr. Oswald on 
the other. After the opening of the new year, these articles 
were brought before Parliament, and were bitterly opposed. 
But it was already too late for the government to fall back 
with grace ; and the new administration labored hard to com- 
plete what it had begun. On the 3d of September, 1783, 
three definitive treaties, with America, France, and Spain, 
44 



346 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

were signed ; the former at Paris, and the other two at Ver- 
sailles. 

Thus closed the War of the Revolution, and American 
independence was established. When the glad tidings ar- 
rived that peace was declared, every countenance was radiant 
with smiles. In every town and village throughout the 
land bells were rung, cannon were fired, and bonfires blazed. 
" It seemed as if all were inspired with new life ; and in the 
hour of triumph, how proudly the soldiery, who had fought 
for their country, recounted the perilous scenes they had 
witnessed, and looking to Heaven with grateful emotions, 
poured out their offerings of gratitude to God ! To view 
such a scene with indifference is impossible ; and if the story 
of the revolution, notwithstanding its drawbacks, becomes to 
us ever a ' thrice told tale,' or ceases to arouse us to emulate 
the virtues and admire the heroism of those who achieved 
the independence of our country, then may we be assured 
the day of our downfall is rapidly approaching, and we are 
becoming unworthy of the continued enjoyment of the bless- 
ings of liberty, now so widely diffused throughout our land." ^ 

* Barry, iii. 171. 



ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 347 



CHAPTER XVII. 
ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. • 

The Declaration of Independence imposed upon each of 
the colonies the necessity of establishing independent gov- 
ernments for the protection of the people and the security 
of their interests. In September, 1776, the legislature of 
Massachusetts recommended " to their constituents to choose 
their deputies to the next General Court with power to 
adopt a form of government for the state." This recom- 
mendation was received in the following spring. In May, 
1777, the General Court convened ; and as early as was 
possible, a committee, consisting of- four members of the 
Council and eight members of the House, was appointed . 
to prepare a state constitution. This committee reported' a 
draught in January, 1778, which the General Court approved, 
and submitted to the people. The latter, however, rejected 
it, by a vote of five to one, solely because the instrument 
contained no declaration of rights. Soon after the opinion 
prevailed that a convention, consisting of persons to be cho- 
sen for the purpose, ought to be immediately called. 

On the 1st of September, 1779, delegates from all the 
towns met in convention at Cambridge, and organized by 
choosing James Bowdoin as president, and Samuel Barrett 
as secretary. A committee of twenty-six was then appoint- 
ed to prepare the draught of a constitution ; and pend- 
ing their report, the convention was temporarily adjourned. 



348 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

The convention, owing to various reasons for delay, did 
not reassemble until in the following Januar}^, at which time 
a draught was presented and adopted. Copies were sent to 
all the towns and plantations in the state, with the di- 
rection that votes, either for or against this constitution, 
^should be returned on the fii^t Wednesday in June. At 
this date, it appeared that more than two thirds of the 
votes were in its favor ; whereupon, the convention was 
dissolved. On the 25th of October, 1780, the government 
was organized, and the constitution, having been adopted 
by the popular vote, went into full force. In the month 
previous, John Hancock, one of the greatest men of his 
age, was chosen to the office of chief magistrate, and 
Thomas Gushing was appointed lieutenant governor. The 
election of the senators likewise took place in the same 
month. 

Though the public mind was chiefly engaged in political 
concerns at this time, the interests of science were not 
entirely overlooked. On the 4th of May, 1780, about fifty 
gentlemen, distinguished for their culture and literary re- 
searches, met, and formed the Academy of Arts and Sci- 
ences. James Bowdoin was its first president, and Joseph 
Willard, president of Harvard College, was its first cor- 
responding secretary. In the same year an academy was 
also established at Andover for the instruction of youth 
in the higher branches of literature. 

A most singular phenomenon occurred on the 19th of May, 
which created much alarm among the common people, and 
was the subject of speculation among the learned. The 
occasion was known as the " dark day." In the morn- 
ing the sky was cloudy, and a little rain fell. About ten 
o'clock it began to grow dark, and toward the middle 



ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 349 

of the afternoon it was found to be impossible to con- 
duct* business without the use of artificial lights. The 
birds and beasts repaired . to their places of rest, biit 
before night it gradually grew lighter, and they again 
forsook them. The darkness did not extend beyond Con- 
necticut, nor far out at sea. It was attributed to a thick 
smoke, which had been accumulating for several days, oc- 
casioned by large fires in the wooded regions of northern 
New Hampshire, where the people were making new settle- 
ments. 

In the autumn a committee was named, consisting of the 
judges of the Superior Court, the attorney general, James 
Bowdoin, and James Pickering, " to revise the laws in use 
in the commonwealth, and to select, abridge, alter, and 
digest them, so as they should be accommodated to the 
present government," and also to prepare bills for the 
proper observance of the Sabbath, and for the prevention 
of drunkenness and profanity. In May, 1781, Congress 
authorized the establishment of a national bank at Phila- 
delphia, agreeably to a plan proposed by Robert Morris, 
who was then superintendent of finance. In the following 
January, the legislature of Massachusetts passed a law for 
the purpose of giving currency to the bills issued by that 
bank within the state, and authorizing the state treasurer 
and others to receive them for payment of public debts, 
and subjecting those to severe punishment who should 
counterfeit them. The charter of the national bank was 
repealed in 1785 ; but two years later, the bank was rein- 
corporated for fourteen years. The first bank in Massachu- 
setts, under the state constitution, was established in 1784. 
It continued to be for several years the only banking in- 
. stitution in the commonwealth, and to its proprietors it 



350 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

yielded enormous profits. The " Massachusetts Mint " was 
established in 1786, but was discontinued after the adoption 
of the federal constitution, on the ground that a uniform 
currency was necessary for the convenience of the people in 
all parts of the country. 

The state constitution provided that the highest judicial 
tribunal in the state should be denominated as the Supreme 
Judicial Court. Such a court was by law established in 
July, 1782. Some time previous the legislature had enacted 
that the judges of the superior court of judicature, the 
name formerly given to the highest judicial court in the 
commonwealth, should exercise the powers given by the 
constitution to the Supreme Judicial Court. 

For many years the question of slavery had been the 
theme of discussion in Massachusetts. As early as 1775, 
a Worcester convention had resolved, that "we abhor the 
enslaving of any of the human" race, and particularly of 
the negroes in this country ; and that, whenever there shall 
be a door opened, or opportunity presented, for anything 
to be done toward the emancipation of the negroes, we 
will use our influence and endeavor that such a thing may 
be brought about." ^ Massachusetts never sanctioned sla- 
very ; on the contrary, at various times she showed her utter 
abhorrence of the same. In 1783, the Supreme Judicial 
Court pronounced a judgment, in the county of Worcester, 
which was a final decision unfavorable to the existence 
of slavery in Massachusetts. Five years later the slave 
trade was prohibited ; and " though many who had been 
held in bondage continued as servants in the families of 
their masters during their lives, at the opening of the nine- 

' Lincoln's Hist, of Worcester, 110. 



ADOPTION OF THE STA TE CONSTITUTION. 351 

teenth century there were few such left, and the institution 
died a natural death." ^ 

In the winter of 1784-5, Mr. Hancock declined a re-elec- 
tion to his office, and in the following spring, James Bow- 
doin was chosen by the legislature governor of Massachu- 
setts. As a public man, this country is greatly indebted 
to Governor Hancock. He was not a man of great in- 
tellectual force by nature, but he possessed traits which dis- 
tinguished him from most men, and qualified him to preside 
in popular assemblies with great dignity. He was most 
faithfully devoted to the cause of his country, and it is 
a high eulogy on his patriotism, that when the British gov- 
ernment offered pardon to all the rebels for all their oifences, 
Hancock and one other — Samuel Adams — were the only 
persons to whom this grace was denied. 

Governor Bowdoin was not elected by the people, but 
he had the highest number of votes, and was constitutionally 
chosen by the senate. He belonged to one of the first 
families in the state, and had the reputation of being a 
man of learning. A perusal of his official communications 
to the legislature shows, also, that he was governed by 
a high sense of duty, and by an enlightened perception 
of what his duty was. During his administration, a con- 
vention was held at Portland, for the purpose of forming 
the District of Maine into a separate state. This conven- 
tion was followed by two others for a similar purpose ; but 
the opposition proved too strong for the party favoring 
a separation, and at the end of a year's discussion, the, 
subject was rocked into a slumber, from which it was not 
aroused until after many years. 

Upon his re-election, in 1786, by three fourths of the votes 

' Barry, iii. 189. 



352 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of the whole state, Governor BoAvdoin urged upon the 
attention of the legislature the interests of Harvard Col- 
lege, and proposed that all former grants of land be secured, 
and a portion in the new township reserved for its use. 
He reminded them that it was always an object dear to 
their fathers ; that even the British government had ex- 
tended to the institution its fostering care ; and he expressed 
his confidence that a republican legislature could not neg- 
lect the interests of science. At the same time he spoke 
of the finances of the state, sajdng that a large amount 
of interest was due on army notes and other public se- 
curities ; a great part of the former taxes remained uncol- 
lected ; and the portion required of the state by Congress, 
for the arrears of three past years, with the additional 
sum for the present year, reached in the whole almost a 
million and a half of dollars. This, indeed, was a heavy 
tax, and the exhibit was alarming and discouraging to the 
people. 

A dispute with regard to the claim of Massachusetts to 
a part of the territory west of the Hudson River, had 
long existed between this Commonwealth and the State of 
New York. New York, at first, denied entirely the right 
of Massachusetts to any lands west of that river, and 
claimed the territory as far west as the United States ex- 
tended, till it interfered with the British possessions, while 
Massachusetts laid claim to all that tract of land beyond 
a certain distance west of the Hudson, and clearly within 
the early patent of New York, and lying between the 
southern and northern limits of the patent of Massachu- 
setts Bay. Agents of the two states met at Hartford, and 
in December, 1786, they agreed that Massachusetts should 
have the pre-emptive right to two large tracts of land within 



ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 353 

the bounds it claimed, being in the whole about five millions 
of acres, two hundred and thirty thousand of which were 
situated near the centre of the State of New York, and 
the other, a larger tract, in the more western part of the 
state, bordering on Lake Erie ; the jurisdiction over the 
whole, however, to be in New York. On her part, Massa- 
chusetts relinquished the residue of her claim forever to 
New York, excepting the most western part of the original 
claim of Massachusetts, west of the lake and within the 
southern and northern boundaries before mentioned, which 
had been previously granted and ceded to Congress, and 
formed a part of the northern and western territory of the 
United States, bordering on the British possessions. In 
1787, the boundary line of the two states was adjusted by 
skilful mathematicians and the geographer of the United 
States. 

Of the manners and customs of the people, of the state 
of society at the close of the revolution, and of the prog- 
ress which had been made within a few years, something 
should be said. In 1781, Boston presented to a French 
traveller " a magnificent prospect of houses, built on a 
curved line, and extending afterwards iiito a semicircle 
above half a league." " These edifices," says the same 
traveller, " which were lofty and regular, with spires and 
cupolas intermixed at proper distances, did .not seem to 
us a modern settlement so much as an ancient city, en- 
joying all the embellishments and population that never 
fail to attend on commerce and the arts." " The inside 
of the town does not at all lessen the idea that is formed 
by an exterior prospect. A superb wharf has been car- 
ried out above two thousand feet into the sea, and is broad 
enough for stores and workshops through the whole of its 
45 



354 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

extent.^ It communicates at right angles with the prin- 
cipal street of the town, which is both large and spacious, 
and bends in a curve parallel to the harbor. This street," 
— since known as Washington Street, — " is ornamented 
with elegant buildings, for the most part two or three 
stories high ; and many other streets terminate in this, 
communicating with it on each side. The form and con- 
struction of the houses would surprise a European eye. 
They are built of brick and wood — not in the clumsy 
and melancholy taste of our ancient European towns, but 
regularly, and well provided with windows and doors. 
The woodwork, or frame, is light, covered on the out- 
side with thin boards, well planed, and lapped over each 
'Other, as we do tiles on our roofs in France. These build- 
ings are generally painted with a pale white color, which 
renders the prospect much more pleasing than it would 
otherwise be. The roofs are set off with balconies, doubt- 
less for the more ready extinguishing of fire. The whole 
is supported by a wall about a foot high. It is easy to see 
how great an advantage these houses have over ours in point 
of neatness and salubrity. 

'* Their household furniture is simple, but made of choice 
wood, after the English fashion, which renders its appearance 
less gay. Their floors are covered with handsome carpets 
or painted cloths ; but others sprinkle them with fine sand. 
The city is supposed to contain about six thousand houses, 
and thirty thousand inhabitants. There are nineteen churches 
for the several sects here, all of them convenient, and several 
finished with taste and elegance — especially those of the 
Presbyterians and the Church of England. Their form is 
generally a long square, ornamented with a pulpit, and 

' Long Wharf is here alluded to. 



ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 355 

furnished with pews of a similar fabrication throughout. The 
poor as well as the rich hear the word of God in these places, 
in a convenient and decent posture of body. 

" Sunday is observed with the utmost strictness. All 
business, how important soever, is then totally at a stand, 
and the most innocent recreations and pleasures are prohibit- 
ed. Boston, that populous town, where at other times there 
is such a hurry of business, is on this day a mere desert. You 
may walk the streets without meeting a single person ; or 
if, by chance, you meet one, you scarcely dare to stop and 
talk with him. A Frenchman that lodged with me took it 
into his head to play on the jflute on Sundays for his amuse- 
ment. The people upon hearing it were greatly enraged, 
collected in crowds round the doors, and would have carried 
matters to extremity in a short time with the musician, had 
not the landlord given him warning of his danger, and forced 
him to desist. Upon this day of melancholy, you cannot go 
into a house but you find the whole family employed in 
reading the Bible ; and, indeed, it is an affecting sight to see 
the father of a family, surrounded by his household, explain- 
ing to them the sublime truths of this sacred volume. 

" Nobody fails here of going to the place of worship appro- 
priated to his sect. In these places there reigns a profound 
silence'; an order and respect are also observable which have 
not been seen for a long time in our Catholic churches. 
Their psalmody is grave and majestic ; and the harmony of 
the poetry, in their national tongue, adds a grace to the 
music, and contributes greatly towards keeping up the atten- 
tion, of the worshippers. All these churches are destitute of 
ornaments. No addresses are made to the heart and the 
imagination. There is no visible object to suggest to the 
mind for what purpose a man comes into these places, who 



356 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

he is, and what he will shortly be. Neither paintings nor 
sculptures represent those great events which ought to recall 
him to his duty and awaken his gratitude ; nor are those 
heroes in piety brought into view whom it is his duty to 
admire and endeavor to imitate. The pomp of ceremony is 
here wanting to shadow out the greatness of the Being he 
goes to worship. There are no processions to testify the 
homage we owe to Him, that great Spirit of the universe, 
by whose will nature itself exists, and through whom the 
fields are covered with harvests, and the trees are loaded 
with fruits. 

" Piety, however, is not the only motive that brings the 
American ladies in crowds to the various places of worship. 
Dej)rived of all shows and public diversions whatever, the 
church is the grand theatre where they attend to display 
their extravagance and finery. There they come, dressed 
off in the finest silks, and overshadowed with a profusion of 
the finest plumes. The hair of the head is raised and sup- 
ported on cushions to an extravagant height, somewhat 
resembling the • manner in which the French ladies wore 
their hair some years ago. Instead of powdering, they often 
wash the head, which answers the purpose well enough, as 
their hair is commonly of an agreeable light color ; but the 
more fashionable among them begin now to adopt the present 
European method of setting off the head to the best advan- 
tage. They are of a large size and well proportioned ; their 
features generally regular, and their complexion fair, without 
ruddiness. They have less cheerfulness and ease of behav- 
ior than the ladies of France, but more of greatness and 
dignity. I have even imagined that I have seen something 
in them that answers to the ideas of beauty we gain from 
the masterpieces of those artists of antiquity which are yet 



ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 357 

extant in our days. The stature of the men is tall, and their 
carriage erect ; but the make is rather slim, and the color 
inclining to pale. They are not so curious in their dress as 
the women ; but everything about them is neat and proper. 
At twenty-five years of age, the women begin to lose the 
freshness and bloom of youth ; and at thirty-five their beauty 
is gone. The decay of the men is equally premature ; and 
I am inclined to think that life is here proportionably short. 
I visited all the burying grounds in Boston, where it is usual 
to inscribe upon the stone over each grave the name and 
age of the deceased, and found that few who had arrived 
to a state of manhood ever advanced beyond their fortieth 
year, fewer still to seventy, and beyond that scarcely any." 

Of the country folk of Massachusetts our author speaks as 
follows : " Scattered about among the forests, the inhabi- 
tants have little intercourse with each other except when 
they go to church. Their dwelling-houses are spacious, 
proper, airy, and built of wood, and are at least one story in 
height ; and herein they keep al^ their furniture and sub- 
stance. In all of them that I have seen I never failed to 
discover traces of their active and inventive genius. They 
all know how to read ; and the greater part of them take 
the gazette printed in their village, which they often dignify 
with the name of town or city. I do not remember ever to 
have entered a single house without seeing a large family 
Bible, out of which they read on evenings and Sundays, to 
their household. They are of a cold, slow, and indolent 
disposition, and averse to labor — the soil, with a moderate 
tillage, supplying them with considerably more than they 
consume. They go and return from their fields on horse- 
back ; and in all this country you will scarcely see a traveller 
on foot. The mildness of their character is as much owing 



358 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

to climate as to their customs and maimers ; for you find 
the same softness of disposition even in the animals of 
the country. 

" The Americans of these parts are very hospitable. 
They have commonly but one bed in the house ; and the 
chaste spouse, although she were alone, would divide it with 
her guest without hesitation or fear. What history relates 
of the virtues of the young Lacedemonian women is far less 
extraordinary. There is here such a confidence in the public 
virtue, that from Boston to Providence I have often met 
young women travelling alone, on horseback or in small 
riding chairs, through the woods, even when the day was 
far upon the decline. In these fortunate retreats, the father 
of a family sees his happiness and importance increasing with 
the number of his children. He is not tormented with the 
ambitious desire of placing them in a rank of life in which 
they might blush to own him for a father. Bred up under 
his eye, and formed by his example, they will not cover his 
old age with shame, nor bring those cares and vexations 
upon him that would sink his gray hairs with sorrow to the 
tomb. He no more fears this than he would a fancied indi- 
gence that might one day come upon him, wound his pater- 
nal feelings, and make the tender partner of his bed repent 
that she was ever the mother of his children. Like him, 
they will bound their cares, their pleasures, and even their 
ambition, to the sweet toils of a rural life — to the raising 
and multiplying their herds, and the cultivating and en- 
larging their fields and orchards. These American husband- 
men, more simple in their manners than our peasants, have 
also less of their roughness and rusticity. More enlightened, 
they possess neither their low cunning nor dissimulation. 
Farther removed from luxurious arts, aud less laborious, they 



ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 359 

are not so much attached to ancient usages, but are far 
more dexterous in inventing and perfecting whatever tends 
to the conveniency and comfort of life. Pulse, Indian corn, 
and milk are their most common kinds of food. They also 
use much tea ; and this sober infusion constitutes the chief 
pleasure of their lives. There is not a single person to be 
found who does not drink it out of china cups anc], saucers ; 
and upon your entering a house, the gi^eatest mark of civility 
and welcome they can show you is to invite you to drink it 
with them." 

" What a spectacle," our author continues, " do these 
settlements even now, already exhibit to our view, consider- 
ing that they are of but little more than a century standing ! 
Spacious and level roads already traverse the vastly extended 
forests of this country. Large and costly buildings have 
been raised, either for the meeting of the representatives of 
the states, for an asylum to the defenders of their country in 
distress, or for the convenience of instructing young- citizens 
in language, arts, and sciences. These last, which are, for 
the most part, endowed with considerable possessions and 
revenues, are also furnished with libraries, and are under the 
direction of able masters, invited hither from different parts 
of Europe. Ship-yards are established in all their ports, and 
they already rival the best artists of the Old World in point 
of naval architecture. Numerous mines have been opened ; 
and they have several founderies for casting cannon, which 
are in no respect inferior to our own. And if the height 
of the architects' skill has not yet covered their waters with 
those prodigious bridges which are wont to be extended over 
the waves, and unite the opposite shores of large rivers, as 
with us, still industry and perseverance have supplied the 
want thereof. Planks, laid upon beams, lashed together 



360 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

"with stout rings, and which may be taken apart at the 
pleasure of their builders, are, by their buoyancy, as solid 
and useful as our firmest works designed for the same end. 
In other places, where a river is too deep for fixing the foun- 
dation of a bridge on its bottom, a stout mass of timber work 
is thrown over, in a curved line, supported only at the 
extremities — the internal strength of the structure suj)port- 
ing it in every other part. 

" Every house and dwelling contains within itself almost 
all the original and most necessary arts. The hand that 
traces out the furrow, knows also how to give the shapeless 
block of wood what form it pleases ; how to prepare the 
hides of cattle for use, and extract spirit from the juice of 
fruits. The young rural maiden, whose charming complex- 
ion has not been turned tawny by the burning rays of the 
sun, or withered by blasting winds, — upon whom pale 
misery has never stamped its hateful impressions, — knows 
how to spin wool, cotton, flax, and afterwards weave them 
into cloth." 1 

Such is the picture of life in Massachusetts painted by a 
foreigner nearly a century ago. It has its pleasing features, 
as well as its manifest defects ; and much that would have 
been to us interesting is left unsaid. The author omits to 
tell us that people in those days travelled wholly by stage 
coaches ; that the arrival of a coach at different points was 
a noted incident in the history of the day ; that the driver 
of a coach was looked up to as a man of no little impor- 
tance ; and that the departure of the coaches was duly 

' These extracts are taken from a rare volume, entitled, "New Travels 
through North America, in a Series of Letters, exhibiting the History of 
the Victorious Campaign of the Allied Armies, under his Excellency General 
Washington and the Count de Rochambeau, in the year 1781, by the Abb6 
Eobin," — a copy of which is in the Boston Public Library. 



ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 361 

announced in the papers of the day. He omits to say that 
the mails were conveyed by " post riders," and that the rates 
on single letters varied, according to distance, from five pence 
one farthing to two shillings and eight pence. He mentions 
the village " gazette ; " but says nothing of the meanness of 
the paper on which it was printed, the poor quality of the 
ink, and the inelegance of the typography. Literature was 
cultivated to some extent in these days, but there had as 
yet appeared no great names in the galaxy of American 
writers. Every child knew " Mother Goose's Melodies " by 
heart; and the " New England Primer " was read in every 
school. 

The domestic habits of the father were those, also, of the 
son, being handed down from one generation to another. 
People generally indulged in but few amusements. The- 
atrical exhibitions were thought to tend to looseness and 
immorality, and were, therefore, for a long time prohibited. 
It was not until 1794 that the first " play house " was 
erected in Boston. The old folks also frowned upon the art 
of dancing, but their abhorrence did not prevent the younger 
portion of the community from tripping, at " husking par- 
ties," to the music of "fiddle and flute." 

With regard to dress, " gentlemen wore hats with broad 
brims, turned up into three corners, with loops at the sides ; 
long coats, with large pocket folds and cuffs, and without 
collars. The buttons were commonly plated, but sometimes 
of silver, often as large as a half dollar. Shirts had bosoms 
and wrist ruffles ; and all wore gold or silver shirt buttons 
at the wrist, united by a link. The waistcoat was long, 
with large pockets ; and the neckcloth, or scarf, was of fine 
white linen, or figured stuff, broidered, and the ends hung 
loosely upon the breast. The breeches were usually close, 
46 . 



362 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

with silver buckles at the knee. The legs were covered with 
long gray stockings, which, on holidays, were exchanged for 
black or white silk. Boots with broad white tops, or shoes 
with straps and large silver buckles, completed the equip- 
ment. 

" Ladies wore caps, long, stiff stays, and high-heeled 
shoes. Their bonnets were of silk or satin, and usually 
black. Gowns were extremely long-waisted, with tight 
sleeves. Another fashion was very short sleeves, with an 
immense frill at the elbow, leaving the rest of the arm naked. 
A large, flexible hoop, three or four feet in diameter, was 
for some time quilted into the hem of the gown, making an 
immense display of the lower person. A long, round cush- 
ion, stuffed with cotton or hair, and covered with black 
crape, was laid across .the head, over which the hair was 
combed back and fastened. It was almost the universal 
custom, also, for women to wear gold beads — thirty-nine 
little hollow globes, about the size of a pea, hung on a thread, 
and tied round the neck. Sometimes this string would 
prove false to its trust, — at an assembly, perhaps, — and 
then, O, such a time to gather them up before they should 
be trampled on and ruined ! Working women wore petti- 
coats and half gowns, drawn with a cord round the waist, 
and neat's leather shoes. Women did not go a shopping 
every day then ; there were few shops to go to, and those 
contained only such articles as were indispensable, and in 
very limited variety." ^ 

In the spring of 1784 the census of the state was taken. 
It showed an aggregate population of three hundred and 
fifty-eight thousand souls, of whom four thousand three 
hundred and seventy-seven were blacks. The census of 

' Lewis, Hist, of Lynn, 220, 221. 



ADOPTION OF THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 363 

1776 showed a population of three hundred and forty-nine 
thousand; and the small increase in the period of eight 
years was owing partly to the losses sustained by the 
war, and partly to the removal of many families to other 
states. 



364 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

SHAYS' REBELLION. 

The revolutionary war brought serious embarrassments, 
both pubhc and private. One mode of relief, after the 
war ended, was to engage in commerce ; and all who had 
credit in England engaged in importing English manufac- 
tures. This traffic drained the country of specie, and in- 
troduced articles of luxury, which the inhabitants needed 
not, and for which they contracted debts, which they could 
not pay. From such causes financial embarrassments were in- 
creased. Importations were discountenanced, and those who 
made them, not only made bad debts, but attracted pub- 
lic odium. Frequent insolvencies caused endless prose- 
cutions, and public, no less than private credit, was well 
nigh ruined. In the late war, Massachusetts had furnished 
one third of all the effective force, and as its proportion 
of the national debt, the state owed five millions of dol- 
lars. On its own account, and not as a member of the 
Union, it owed over four millions of dollars ; to the sol- 
diers and officers which it had sent to the war it owed 
upward of six hundred thousand dollars, thus making its 
total debt nearly, ten millions of dollars. The resources of 
the state to pay so much of this debt as was immedi- 
ately payable, were only the revenues derived from im- 
portation in the low state of commerce, direct taxation on 



SHAYS' REBELLION, 365 

estates, and polls of persons overwhelmed with embarrass- 
ments.^ 

This condition of affairs brought on a state of high excite- 
ment. In different parts of the state armed combinations 
arose, for the purpose of preventing the sitting of the 
courts, and this object was effected in many of the counties. 
Lawyers were associated with the general distress, and were 
considered to be principal causers of it, merely from the 
performance of professional duties. Ere long intelligent 
citizens caught up the mob spirit created by the igno- 
rant demagogues of the several communities, and when the 
infuriated resorted to arms, and refused to pay the price 
of their privileges, nothing but vigilance could oppose 
their fury, and quell the tumult occasioned by their mis- 
conduct. 

In August, 1786, a convention, composed of delegates 
from about fifty towns in the county of Hampshire, was 
held at Hatfield. This convention continued in session 
three days, and announced its object to be " to consider 
and provide a remedy for the existing grievances." The 
delegates first voted, that " the convention was constitu- 
tional," and then proceeded to consider the causes of com- 
plaint among the people. They alleged that the senate in 
the legislature was a restraint upon their immediate depu- 
ties or agents ; they objected to the rule of representa- 
tion as unequal ; insisted that all salaries ought to be 
granted annually, and all civil officers be appointed by the 
General Court. They believed that fees for judges and 
others were too great, the courts of Common Pleas and of 
Sessions were unnecessary, and the salaries of public officers, 
in general, were too high. With regard to the state of 

* Familiar Letters, 2-3. 



366 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the finances, they proposed that paper bills should be issued, 
be made a tender, and be received in payment of public se- 
curities and other notes ; the}'' also declared that the con- 
stitution should be revised and altered, and passed a vote 
that the governor should be required to call the Gen- 
eral Court together immediately to act upon these various 
subjects. 

Such proceedings were naturally calculated to encourage 
the lawless ; and, four days after the rising of the con- 
vention, an armed mob assembled in Northampton, and 
prevented the sitting of the Court of Common Pleas. As 
soon as the governor had received tidings of this out- 
break, he issued a proclamation forbidding all assemblies 
of the people for unlawful purposes, and calling upon the 
officers of the government and the good citizens of the 
commonwealth to aid in suppressing such dangerous com- 
binations. This proclamation, however, had little effect, and 
the spirit of insurrection which was burning in Worcester 
and Hampshire spread rapidly into other counties. 

In September the Court' of Common Pleas for Worcester 
county was not suffered to be opened, and a few days 
later, an insurgent gathering resolved to prevent the regu- 
lar session of the Supreme Court in Springfield. The gov- 
ernor, being acquainted of this latter project, ordered General 
Shepard, with a body of six hundred of the militia, to op- 
pose any violent proceedings. On the 26th of the month 
the troops were posted on duty, and the judges prepared- 
to hold court ; but the insurgents, under the leadership of 
Daniel Shays, also assembled in superior numbers. These 
insurgents threatened all who refused to jpin them, and 
their whole conduct was insolent. They requested of the 
judges that no indictments might be sustained against any 



SHAYS' REBELLION. 367 

of their party ; on the other hand, the judges refused to 
receive any message from the rioters, and exhibited great 
firmness. So great became the alarm of the citizens, that 
it was concluded to adjourn the court on the third day of 
the session. On the same day the mob dispersed. 

At the opening of the General Court on the last of the 
month, the governor reviewed the late proceedings, and 
declared that there was need of some efficient measures to 
restore tranquillity ; at the same time he expressed a desire 
that all suitable forbearance and relief should be extended 
to the people under their heavy burdens. The General 
Court censured the conduct of the insurgents, and, after 
some discussion, suspended, the privilege of the writ of 
habeas corpus for eight months. This was a great relief to 
the governor, for there was a disposition manifested by a 
portion of the citizens to represent his firmness as severity, 
and to charge him with a want of feeling for the distresses 
of the people. But proof was thus afforded that all branches 
of the legislature were alarmed at the violent proceedings of 
the insurgents, and were united in support of the consti- 
tuted authorities of the state. 

In the mean time disturbances were renewed, and the 
governor, as commander-in-chief, called upon the officers 
of the militia to see that their divisions were organized and 
equipped to take the field at the shortest notice. Warrants 
were issued for the arrest and imprisonment of the leaders 
of the insurgents in Middlesex, and toward the last of No- 
vember three of the rioters were taken to Boston arid cast 
into jail. The rebels were not disheartened, and still 
avowed a determination to " seek redress of their griev- 
ances in any way which was practicable." They prepared 
to prevent the sitting of the Court of Common Pleas at 



368 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Worcester, in December ; but having assembled to the num- 
ber of three hundred and fifty, they were opposed by the 
militia, and driven to an eminence before the court-house. 
On the 6th, Shays arrived with re-enforcements, and thus 
the number of the rioters was swelled to nearly a thou- 
sand. In great alarm, the courts adjourned, after being 
subjected to repeated insults ; and soon after the insurgents 
themselves left Worcester. 

Proceedings equally disgraceful took place also in other 
counties, and at length matters had gone too far to be 
peaceably settled. To the government only one alterna- 
tive was left, namely, to act. The advice of the Coun- 
cil was sought, and with their approval, orders were issued 
for the raising of a body of forty-four hundred rank and 
file from the different counties, with four regiments of ar- 
tilleiy from Suffolk and Middlesex. General Lincoln was 
placed in command of these troops. This proceeding re- 
stored quiet at the east, but the western part of the state 
was still a flame. Luke Day, of Springfield, the master 
spirit of the insurrection, had assembled four hundred men, 
well armed, and was preparing to attack the arsenal at 
Springfield. Shays, also, with three hundred of his fol- 
lowers, was in the neighborhood. General Shepard, with 
nine hundred men, took possession of the post, and awaited 
the conflict. 

On the 25th of January, 1787, the insurgents prepared to 
storm the arsenal, and Day sent an insolent message to 
General Shepard, demanding that the troops in Springfield 
should lay down their arms, and return to their several 
homes upon parole. Shepard, however, replied that he was 
resolved at all hazards to defend his post. The insurgents 
approached, with an unbroken front, to within fifty yards 



SHAYS' REBELLION. 369 

of the arsenal. General Shepard gave the order to fire, and 
a pitiable scene of confusion was the result. "Murder!" 
shouted the mob, as they fled in disorder to Ludlow, ten 
miles distant. Shays and his followers then withdrew to 
Chicopee, while Day remained inactive at West Springfield. 

On the 27th General Lincoln arrived, and immediately set 
out in pursuit of Day. General Shepard, with the Hamp- 
shire troops, followed Shays up the river. Three days later 
the insurgents, in considerable numbers, posted themselves 
at Pelham, and gave threats of further hostilities. Once 
more the discomfited leader was ordered to surrender ; but 
this he refused to do, except " on the condition of a gen- 
eral pardon." . While the General Court, again in session, 
was approving the conduct of the governor, and was passing 
severe measures for the suppression of the rebellion, Shays 
withdrew his forces to Petersham, and was quickly pursued 
by Lincoln. On the night of the 4th of February the 
forces of the latter entered the town. The rebels, who 
had been reposing in fancied security, fled precipitously. 
One hundred and fifty of them, however, were taken as 
prisoners, and then dismissed to their homes, after having 
taken the oath of allegiance. 

This victory tended to encourage the friends of the gov- 
ernment, many of whom believed that the rebellion was 
now virtually at an end. A reward of one hundred and 
fifty pounds was issued for the apprehension of the leaders 
of the insurgents ; the vigilance of the government was 
fully aroused, and hundreds of the patriotic citizens rallied in 
defence of the constitution. The House promised indem- 
nity to the rebels on the conditions that they, " having laid 
down their arms, and taken the oath of allegiance to the 
commonwealth, should keep the peace for three years, and, 
47 



370 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

during that term, should not serve as jurors, be eligible to 
any town office, or any other office under the government, 
should not hold or exercise the employment of school- 
masters, innkeepers, or retailers of spirituous liquors, or give 
their votes for the same term of time for any officer, civil 
or military, within the commonwealth, unless they should, 
after the first day of May, 1788, exhibit plenary evidence 
of their having returned to their allegiance and kept the 
peace, and of their possessing such an unequivocal attach- 
ment to the government as should appear to the General 
Court a sufficient ground to discharge them from all or 
any of these disqualifications." Those absolutely excepted 
from the indemnity were " such as were not citizens of the 
state, such as had been members of any General Court 
in the state, or had been employed in any commissioned 
office, civil or military; such as, after delivering up their 
arms, and taking the oath of allegiance during the rebellion, 
had again taken and borne arms against the government ; 
such as had acted as committees, counsellors, or advisers 
to the rebels ; and such as, in former years, had been 
in arms against the government, in the capacity of com- 
missioned officers, and were afterwards pardoned, and had 
been concerned in the rebellion." ^ 

To man}'" these measures appeared to be judicious, while 
others were led to suppose that " if the number of the 
disfranchised had been less, the public peace would have 
been equally safe, and the general happiness promoted." 
General Lincoln sided with this latter class, and gave ex- 
pression to his statesmanlike views on the subject in a letter 
which he addressed to Washington. With regard to the 
Indemnity Act, he observes that it "includes so great u 

' Minot, Hist, of the Insurrection, 138. 



SHAYS' REBELLION. 371 

description of persons, that, in its operation, many towns 
will be disfranchised. This will injure the whole ; for mul- 
tiplied disorders must be experienced under such circum- 
stances. The people who have been in arms against the 
government, and their abettors, have complained, and- do 
now complain, that grievances exist, and that they ought 
to have redress. We have invariably said to them, ' You 
are wrong in flying to arms ; you should seek redress in 
a constitutional way, and wait the decision of the legisla- 
ture.' These observations were undoubtedly just ; but will 
they not now complain, and say that we have cut them 
off from all hope of redress from that quarter, for we have 
denied them a representation in that legislative body by 
whose laws they must be governed. While they are in 
this situation they never will be reconciled to government,- 
nor will they submit to the terms of it from any other 
motive than fear, excited by a constant military armed force 
extended over them. 

'' While these distinctions are made, the subjects of them 
will remain invidious, and there will be no affection exist- 
ing among the inhabitants of the same neighborhood or 
families, where they have thought and acted differently. 
Those who have been opposers to government will view 
with a jealous eye those who have been supporters of it, 
and consider them as the cause which produced the dis- 
qualifying act, and who are now keeping it alive. Many 
will never submit to it. They will rather leave the state 
than do it. And if we could reconcile ourselves to this 
loss, and on its account make no objection, yet these peo- 
ple will leave behind them near and dear connections, who 
will feel themselves wounded through their friends. 

*' The influence of these people is so fully checked, that 



372 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

we have nothing to apprehend from them now but their 
individual votes. When this is the case, to express fears 
from that quarter is impolitic. Admit that some of these 
very people should obtain a seat in the Assembly the next 
year, we have nothing to fear from the measure ; so far 
from that, I think it would produce the most salutary 
effects. For my own part, I wish that those in general 
who should receive a pardon were at liberty to exercise 
all the rights of good citizens ; for I believe it to be the 
only way which can be adopted to make them good mem- 
bers of society, and to reconcile them to that government 
under which we wish them to live. If we are afraid of 
their weight, and they are for a given time deprived of 
certain privileges, they will come forth hereafter with re- 
doubled vigor. I think we have much more to fear from 
a certain supineness which has seized on a great propor- 
tion of our citizens, who have been totally inattentive to 
the exercise of those rights conveyed to them by the con- 
stitution of this commonwealth. If the good people of the 
states will not exert themselves in the appointment of proper 
characters for the executive and legislative branches of gov- 
ernment, no disfranchising acts will ever make us a happy 
and well governed people. 

" I cannot, therefore, -on the whole, but think that, if the 
opposers to government in general had been disqualified, 
on a pardon, from serving as jurors on the trial of those 
who had been in sentiment with them, we should have 
been perfectly safe. For, as I observed, these people have 
now no influence as a body, and their individual votes are 
not to be dreaded ; for we certainly shall not admit that 
the majority is with them in their political sentiments. If 



SHAVS' REBELLION. 373 

they are, how, upon republican principles, can we justly 
exclude them from the right of governing ? " ^ 

Disturbances had now in a great measure subsided, and 
the General Court passed a resolution for holding special 
sessions of the Supreme Judicial Court in the counties of 
Hampshire, Berkshire, and Middlesex for the trial of per- 
sons who had been taken into custody on account of the 
late opposition to the government. Three commissioners 
— the Hons. Benjamin Lincoln, Samuel Phillips, Jr., and 
Samuel A. Otis — were appointed, with authority to prom- 
ise indemnity to such as might choose to return to their 
allegiance. The leaders, Shays, Wheeler, Parsons, and Day, 
together with all those who had fired upon, or killed any 
of the citizens in the peace of the commonwealth, the mem- 
bers of the rebel council of war, and all persons against 
whom the governor and council had issued a warrant, were 
excluded from the protection of this commission. 

Whilst the government was desirous of bringing all real 
offenders to justice, it was equally anxious to afford every 
possible relief to the people, consistently with a strict re- 
gard for the public welfare. To this latter end, it agreed 
to lessen the number of terms of the Court of Common 
Pleas in several counties, and to reduce the amount of 
fees in various cases of public officers. The General Court 
also passed a bill reducing the governor's salary one third 
part. On the ground that such a bill was unconstitutional, 
he refused his signature ; and as it failed to receive the 

' Barry, iii. 251, seq. On the 13th of March, 1787, Washington replied to 
Lincoln, saying, " I am extremely happy to find that your sentiments upon 
the disfranchising act are such as they are. Upon my first seeing it, I formed 
an opinion perfectly coincident with yours, viz., that measures more generally 
lenient might have produced equally as good an effect, without entirely alienat- 
ing the affections of the people from the government." — Sparks's Washing- 
ton, ix. 240. 



374 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

vote required by the constitution, the bill was dropped, 
and the legislature was prorogued to the next annual 
election. 

In the mean time the Supreme Judicial Court was employed 
in trying the offenders, and the commissioners were mildly 
exercising the authority which had been intrusted to them. 
Of this commission, the benefit was taken by nearly eight 
hundred persons ; while of prisoners tried, six were con- 
victed of treason in Berkshire county, six in Hampshire, 
one in Worcester, and one in Middlesex. All of these re- 
ceived sentence of death, but were afterwards pardoned. 
At nearly the same time a seditious member of the legislature 
was sentenced to sit on the gallows, with a rope about his 
neck, and to pay a fine of fifty pounds. 

Notwithstanding the energetic measures of Bowdoin in 
suppressing the rebellion, the attention of the people was 
once more turned to Hancock. The latter was always the 
popular favorite, and such as sought relief from the public 
burdens expected more from him than from Bowdoin. 
Many who had been, in principle, opposed to rebellious 
measures, and those who promoted them, or were engaged 
in them, uniting in favor of Hancock, constituted a majority 
of the electors. 

"When Hancock succeeded Bowdoin, all of the causes of 
the rebellion still remained. " Taxes were exceedingly bur- 
densome, and means for payment wholly inadequate. Com- 
merce was conducted to great disadvantage, and mostly 
in British vessels. The importations were of articles which 
the sensible men of the day considered to be in part un- 
necessary, and in part worse than useless, and not to be 
had without draining the country of specie. But in the 
course of this year the aspect of affairs changed in some 



SHAYS' REBELLION. 375 

degree, and inspired hopes that difficulties might be sur- 
mounted. The fear of new commotions died away ; the 
courts were no more impeded." ^ 

Public peace was gradually restored, and more enduring 
confidence was placed in the government. Even the hardi- 
est of the criminals, the leaders in the late insurrection, 
even Parsons and Shays, convinced of their error, pre- 
ferred petitions for pardon and indemnity, and their prayer 
was granted. Thus the measures of the government had 
been completed in success ; the people approved of these 
measures, and the insurgents regretted the part they had 
taken in the affair, and craved forgiveness. Still, the re- 
bellion was deeply and justly regretted, as a stain upon the 
character of the people of the state ; but it afforded an 
opportunity to show the strength of a republican govern- 
ment, and the union of firmness with clemency in the rulers 
served to attach the citizens more strongly to the consti- 
tution, and to convince them of the necessity of a supreme 
civil authority in the commonwealth. 

^ Familiar Letters, 13. 



376 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 

On the 14th of May, 1787, about fifty delegates, represent- 
atives from eleven different states, met in convention in 
the State House in Philadelphia, — in the same hall where 
the Declaration of Independence was adopted, — for the 
purpose of framing an independent constitution. 

The convention sat with closed doors; and not even a 
transcript of their minutes was permitted to be made public. 
The various disturbances in different parts of the land had 
shaken the faith of many in the power of the multitude to 
govern themselves. Said Elbridge Gerry, in the convention, 
" All the evils we experience flow from an excess of democ- 
racy. The people do not want virtue, but are under the 
dupes of pretended jjatriots ; they are daily misled into the 
most baleful measures of opinions. What was most to be 
desired was a central government, which would give security 
to all the states, and at the same time not conflict in its 
powers with their rights." It was found to be no easy 
matter to arrange satisfactorily the representation in the two 
branches of the proposed government. The smaller states 
were alarmed, lest their rights should be infringed upon by 
the overwhelming majority of members coming from the 
larger ones. This difficulty was removed by constituting 
the Senate, in which the states were represented equally, 
without reference to their population ; each being entitled 
to two members, while in the House of Representatives the 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 377 

states were to be represented in proportion to their popula- 
tion. After four months of labor, during which every article 
of the proposed constitution was thoroughl}^ discussed, the 
draught was finished and signed by all the members present, 
with the exception of Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, 
George Mason and Edmund Randolph, of Virginia. This 
result was not obtained without much discussion ; and at 
one time, indeed, it was feared that the Convention would 
dissolve, leaving its work unfinished. Then it was that 
Franklin — now in his eightieth year, and who thirty years 
before, at a convention in Albany, had proposed a plan of 
union for the colonies — arose and suggested that they should 
choose a chaplain to open their sessions with prayer. " I 
have lived a long time," said he ; " and the longer I live the 
more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs 
the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the 
ground without his notice, is it possible that an empire can 
rise without his aid ? " At length the Constitution was pre- 
sented to Congress, by whom it was submitted to the people 
of the states for their approval or rejection. 

On the 9th of the following January, a convention in Mas- 
sachusetts " for the purpose of assenting to and ratifying the 
constitution recommended by the grand federal convention,." 
met at Boston. The three hundred and fifty members of 
this body were among the most eminent men in the state. 
Governor Hancock was chosen president of the convention, 
Judge William Gushing vice president, George Richards 
Minot, Esq. secretary, and Jacob Kuhn messenger.^ The 
sessions of the convention were held at first in the Brattle 
Street Church ; but " on account of the difficulty of hear- 

^ For nearly fifty years Mr. Kuhn served as messenger to the General 
Court. 

48 



378 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ing," this house was " found inconvenient," and the conven- 
tion therefore adjourned to the representatives' chamber, in 
the Old State House, and from thence, at a later date, to the 
"meeting-house in Long Lane." ^ At the. instance of Caleb 
Strong, afterwards governor of the state, the preliminary 
motion was voted, "that this convention, sensible how im- 
portant it is that the great subject submitted to their deter- 
mination should be discussed and considered with moderation, 
candor, and deliberation, will enter into a free conversation 
on the several parts thereof, by paragraphs, until every 
member shall have had opportunity to express his sentiments 
on the same ; after which, the convention will consider and 
debate at large the question whether this convention will 
adopt and ratify the proposed constitution, before any vote 
is taken expressive of the sense of the convention upon the 
whole or any part thereof." ^ 

A long discussion was held relative to biennial elections. 
Dr. Taylor contended that the practice of annual elections 
" had been considered as a safeguard of the liberties of the 
people, and the annihilation of it the avenue through which 
tyranny would enter ; " and the Hon. Mr. White declared 
that " he would rather they should be for six months than 
for two years." In reply, Governor Bowdoin affirmed that 
"if the revolution of the heavenly bodies was to be the 
principle to regulate elections, it was not fixed to any period ; 
as in some of the systems it would be very short, and in 
the last discovered planet it would be eighty of our years." 
General Brooks, with large wisdom, observed that no in- 
stance had been cited in which biennial elections had proved 
" destructive to the liberties of the people ; " that the Par- 
liaments of Great Britain had been triennial and septennial, 

' Since known as the Federal Street Church. * Debates, 25, 26. 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 379 

" yet life, liberty, and property, it was generally conceded, 
were nowhere better secured than in Great Britain." The 
friends of biennial elections were more numerous than the 
opponents of the measure, and consequently . carried the 
day. A long debate also took place on the mode of choosing 
representatives on property qualifications, and on the " three 
fifths clause." The subject of slavery was also considered. 

" The members of the southern states," it was said, 
" like ourselves, have their prejudices. It would not do to 
abolish slavery, by an act of Congress, in a moment, and so 
destroy what our southern brethren consider as property. 
But we may say, that although slavery is not smitten by an 
apoplexy, yet it has received a mortal wound, and will die 
of consumption." ^ When the ninth section of the first 
article of the constitution was read, " Mr. Neale, from Kit- 
tery," we are told, " went over the ground of objection to 
this section, on the idea that the slave trade was allowed to 
be continued for twenty years. His profession, he said, 
obliged him to bear witness against anything that should 
favor the making merchandise of the bodies of men ; and 
unless his objection was removed, he could not put his hand 
to the constitution. Other gentlemen said, in addition to 
this idea, that there was not even a provision that the 
negroes ever shall be free ; and General Thompson ex- 
claimed, ' Mr. President, shall it be said that, after we have 
established our own independence and freedom, we make 
slaves of others ? O Washington ! what a name has he had ! 
how he has immortahzed himself! But he holds those in 
slavery who have as good a right to be free as he has. He 
is still for tjelf ; and, in my opinion, his character has sunk 
fifty per cent.' " ^ 

' Debates, 68. » Debates, 143, 144. 



380 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

General Heath, at a later stage of the convention, said, 
" The paragraph respecting the migration or importation of 
such persons as any of the states now existing shall think 
proper to admit, is one of those considered during my 
absence, and I have heard nothing on the subject save what 
has been mentioned this morning ; but I think the gentle- 
men who have spoken have carried the matter rather too 
far on both sides. I apprehend that it is not in our power 
to do anything for or against those who are in slavery in the 
Southern States. No gentlemen within these walls detests 
every idea of slavery more than I do ; it is generally detested 
by the people of the commonwealth ; and I ardently hope 
that the time will come when our brethren in the Southern 
States will view it as we do, and put a stop to it ; but to 
this we have no right to compel them. Two questions 
naturally arise, if we ratify the constitution : Shall we 
do anything by our act to hold the blacks in slavery ? or 
shall we become partakers of other men's sins ? I think 
neither of them. Each state is sovereign and independent, 
to a certain degree ; and they have a right to, and will 
regulate their own internal affairs as to themselves appears 
proper. And shall we refuse to eat, or to drink, or to be 
united with those who do not think or act just as we do ? 
Truly not. We are not in this case partakers of other men's 
sins ; for in nothing do we voluntarily encourage the slavery 
of our fellow-men. A restriction is laid on the federal 
government, which could not be avoided and a union take 
place. The federal convention went as far as they could. 
The migration and importation is confined to the states now 
existing only ; new states cannot claim it. Congress, by 
their ordinance for erecting new states, some time since, 
declared that the new states shall be republican, and that 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 381 

there shall be no slavery in them. But whether those in 
slavery in the Southern States will be emancipated after 
the year 1808, I do not pretend to determine ; I rather 
doubt it."i 

After the " conversation on the constitution by para- 
graphs " had ended, and each article had been fully con- 
sidered, it was moved " that this convention do assent to 
and ratify " the same. By this motion, the whole subject 
was brought before the assembly; and it at once became 
evident that the opponents were quite as numerous as the 
friends of the constitution. At this juncture, in order to 
promote unity, General Heath moved that, if in the judg- 
ment of the convention there were defects in the constitu- 
tion, and amendments were deemed necessary, it might be 
advisable to define these amendments, and forward them to 
Congress with the vote of ratification, as a signification of 
the wishes of the state, before the subject was fully disposed 
of, that the whole instrument should be carefully revised. 
A committee was appointed to draw' up the amendments, 
and on the 6th of February the main question was taken, 
and decided in the affirmative, by a vote of one hundred 
and eighty-seven to one hundred and sixty-eight. The 
amendments to the constitution were embodied in nine 
articles. 

Thus closed the Massachusetts convention for the ratifica- 
tion of the constitution. Happy for the state, and for the 
United States, a majority of votes, even though small, was 
obtained for it. Many of those who gave their vote against 
the constitution might have been as honest as those who 
advocated it ; but it is impossible to admit that they had as 
great wisdom and foresight. Moreover, the former had de- 

' Debates, 162, 153. 



382 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

clared their determination to support it, as it had been 
approved and adopted by the majority ; while the latter, by 
whose influence it was accepted, ranked among the most 
distinguished patriots of the state. To no men was the 
country more indebted for preservation from ruin, and for 
security of the blessings of good government, than to those 
who procured the acceptance of the federal constitution in 
Massachusetts. 

The constitution having been ratified by the vote of the 
requisite number of states, the General Congress of the 
United States resolved, on the 13th of September, " that the 
first Wednesday in Januarj^ next be the day for appointing 
electors in the several states which before the said day shall 
have ratified the said constitution ; that the first Wednesday 
in February next be the day for the electors to assemble in 
their respective states, and vote for a president; and that 
the first Wednesday in March next be the time, and the 
present seat of Congress (New York) the place, for com- 
mencing proceedings under said constitution." At the ap- 
pointed time the electors assembled in their respective states, 
and by the unanimous vote of the continent. General 
Washington was called to be president, and the Hon. John 
Adams to be vice president of the United States. On the 
30th of April, 1789, Washington was solemnly inducted 
into his office ; the oath prescribed by the constitution was 
taken ; the chancellor exclaimed, " Long live George Wash- 
ington ! " the first message was delivered ; the replies of the 
Senate and the House were returned ; and thus the govern- 
ment of the United States was peaceably established. 

Shortly after his inauguration, President Washington made 
the tour of the Eastern States, accompanied by his official 
and private secretaries. A disagreement arose between the 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 383 

governor and the town's committee, to which of them 
belonged the honor of receiving the president at the line of 
the town. From this cause there was a long delay, and 
the president was exposed to a raw north-east wind, by 
which exposure he was visited by a severe cold. Many 
other persons were exposed and affected in like manner, and 
the affection became so general as to be called the Wash- 
ington influenza. The president entered Boston on horse- 
back. He did not bow to the spectators as he passed, but 
sat on his horse with a calm, dignified air. He remained in 
the town about a week, partook of a public dinner, dined 
with the governor, and attended an oratorio in King's 
Chapel. On his departure for Portsmouth, he showed his 
regard for punctuality. He gave notice that he should 
depart at eight o'clock in the morning ; and he left the door 
at the moment. The escort not being ready, he went with- 
out them ; and they followed and overtook him on the way.^ 
By the adoption of the constitution, the citizens of Mas- 
sachusetts, as well as the other states, were divided into 
two parties, — the federalists and the anti-federalists. The 
former were friends of the new constitution, and the latter 
were its opponents. This may be called the second division 
into parties ; the preceding one, during the . war, having 
been that of whigs and tories, borrowed from English poli- 
tics, as far back as the reign of the Stuarts. Both the 
federalists and the anti-federalists were honest, and acted 
conscientiously in the advocacy of their measures. Both 
■were friendly to a republican government and the union of 
the states. The names which they gave one another, for 
the sake of mutual disjjaragement, were still more false than 
their original denominations were imperfect and improperly 

' Familiar Letters, 15. 



384 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

opposed to each other. It may be, indeed, that " the fed- 
eral party was at the same time, aristocratic — favorable to 
the preponderance of the higher classes, as well as to the 
power of the central government ; " and that " the demo- 
cratic party was also the local party — desiring at once the 
supremacy of the majority, and the almost entire independ- 
ence of the state governments." But if such a difference 
did exist, the lines of demarcation were not closely drawn. 

The General Congress continued in session till the 29th 
of September, busily employed in passing the laws necessary 
to the organization of the government. In this lapse of 
time the construction of the powers intended to be given 
was very ably discussed. The number of senators did not 
then exceed eighteen. The number of representatives at- 
tending was about eighty. Among the subjects debated at 
this Congress, was the president's power of appointment, 
and removal of the officers of his cabinet. The history of 
the country shows in what manner this power may be used ; 
and some, who were then opposed to leaving it to the presi- 
dent alone, would have seen their predictions realized if 
they had survived to the present day. It is perceived now 
that the framers of the constitution erred in not restricting 
executive power, and that the first legislators erred in like 
manner. Though they could not have expected a succes- 
sions of Washingtons, they are excusable for not dreaming 
of Jeffersons and Jacksons. 

Another point much debated was, whether the secretaries 
of the executive should make reports to Congress. The 
duties and difficulties of the treasury department may be 
discovered in Mr. Ames's remarks in support of the proposi- 
tion. "Among other things," he said, "the situation of 
our finances, owing to a variety of causes, presents to the 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 385 

imagination a deep, dark, and drearj; chaos, impossible to be 
reduced to order, unless the mind of the architect be clear • 
and capacious, and his power commensurate to the object. 
It is with the intention of letting a little sunshine into the 
business that the present arrangement is proposed." The 
tonnage duty was another subject considered. Even then 
the spirit that never tired nor yielded in favor of France,. till 
the conclusion of the war in 1815, was clearly apparent. 

Under the auspicious influence of the federal government, 
a mutual confidence was strengthened among the citizens of 
the commonwealth and of the United States. The common 
employments and arts of life were encouraged ; commercial 
enterprises increased ; the credit of government was restored 
by wise and efficient provisions in the finances of the country, 
the regulation of foreign commerce, and the uniform collec- 
tion of a revenue. The nation made rapid advancements, 
from a state of embarrassment and imbecility, to wealth, 
power, and respectability. 

The beneficial work begun by the Congress of 1789 was 
resumed by the Congress of 1790. On the 4th of August, 
of this 3^ear, Congress agreed to assume nearly twenty-two 
millions of dollars of the debts of the states, which sum was 
apportioned among the several states according to the ex- 
penses wiiich each had incurred during the late war. Of 
the debt of Massachusetts, between five and six millions of 
dollars were assumed by the general government , the re- 
mainder of the debt — amounting to eleven and a half mil- 
lions more — was borne by the state. This assumption of 
the state debt did not wholly, relieve the people, and the 
burdens which remained were a cause of loud and frequent 
complaint. Public embarrassments, however, did not check 
private enterprise. The whole state was alive to the mak- 
49 



386 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ing of internal improvements. Public roads were repaired, 
turnpikes were projected, and. in 1793 the Middlesex Canal 
was constructed. Attention was given also to the revision 
of the state laws ; the criminal code was ameliorated by the 
influence of Governor Hancock, and confinement at hard 
labor, as a punishment, was substituted for the disgraceful 
public whipping and cropping for theft. A workhouse was 
established on Castle Island, in Boston Harbor; and a few 
years later, the state prison was built at Charlestown. The 
Sunday law was likewise revised. Provisions were made by 
the state for promoting public education, and academies 
were established in very many localities. Before the close 
of the century nearly every town had provided for the 
proper training of its youth of both sexes. About this time, 
also, the first Sunday schools in Massachusetts were estab- 
lished. 

In October, 1793, Governor Hancock died, and his funeral 
was conducted with great ceremony. The judges of the 
Supreme Judicial Court had, up to this time, worn robes of 
scarlet, faced with black velvet in winter, and black silk 
gowns in summer. On this occasion they appeared in the 
latter ; but for some reason they wore neither robes nor 
gowns afterwards. Samuel Adams, the lieutenant governor 
of the state, now assumed the functions of the executive 
office, and in the following year was chosen governor. Of 
Mr. Adams's character, nothing could be said that has not 
already been said by abler pens. A man whose " pen, 
tongue, activity were exerted for his country, without fee 
or reward " for fifty years, could never be forgotten by his 
posterity. 

Mr. Adams was a democrat ; and, being one of the ablest 
advocates of state rights, was not, at first, an ardent admirer 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 387 

of the federal constitution. But, nevertheless, he did not 
hesitate to acknowledge his fealty to the laws of the land. 
" I shall be called upon," he said, on taking the oath of 
lieutenant governor, "to make a declaration — and I shall 
do it most cheerfully — that the Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts is, and of right ought to be, a free, sovereign, and 
independent state. I shall be called upon to make another 
declaration, with the same solemnity — to support the Con- 
stitution of the United States. I see no inconsistency in 
this ; for it must be intended that these constitutions should 
mutually aid and support each other." ^ 

In these years — 1789 to 1793 — the French had made 
such progress in their revolution as to have established their 
National Assembly, and the "great nation" had already 
become the terror of Europe. The tree of liberty was to 
be planted throughout the earth. The progress of French 
principles was very grateful to the opposition in the United 
States ; nor to them only. Many of the federal party were 
rejoiced to see the coming freedom of a people who had so 
essentially aided in securing that of their own country ; and 
in the course of the year 1792 it was thought that a public 
expression of joy ought to be made by the Americans. 
Hence, in Massachusetts and elsewhere, civic feasts were 
undertaken, some of them of the most ludicrous character. 
These affairs were carried to such a height of extravagance, 
that those who were the most active in them were also the 
most willing to repent of their folly. 

The conduct of " citizen Genet," the first minister from 
the French republic, was very remarkable. His employers 
assumed that the United States were to engage in the French 
revolution, and authorized him to commission privateers and 

' Bradford, iii. 29, 46. 



388 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

to raise, in this country, forces to attack British and Spanish 
possessions on this side of the water. He undertook to 
execute these plans entirely independent of the government 
of the United States ; and such was his audaciousness, that 
he neglected even to present his credentials to the govern- 
ment to which he was sent. Although his reception in this 
country was not unlike that usually extended to a victorious 
chief, he at length found that he could not carry on his 
manoeuvres as independently as he had wished. He was 
told that the government was determined to adhere to the 
strictest neutrality ; to which Genet had no objection, pro- 
vided he could carry on the war himself. When told that, 
unless he should restrain his belligerent operations, he would 
be resisted by force, he threatened to appeal from the presi- 
dent to the people ! The controversies thus occasioned by 
the conduct of Genet were exceedingly embarrassing to the 
president, and gave rise to dissensions in the cabinet. Genet 
was recalled, and a few weeks later the French republic 
fell : and thus the whole affair gradually slipped away into 
silence.^ 

In the spring of 1794, John Jay, a man of the most disin- 
terested patriotism, and then Chief Justice of the United 
States, was sent as envoy extraordinary to the court of St. 
James, for the purpose of negotiating with the English 
government relative to their recent depredations • upon the 
commerce of the United States. This mission was an unex- 
pected blow to the French party, who, as soon as they could 
rally, attacked not only the mission, but the administration 
also. In November a treaty was signed with Great Britain, 

' Sparks's "Washington, x. 387, seq. Hildreth's U. S., iv. 434-441. After 
his recall Genet married a daughter of Governor Clinton, of New York, and- 
passed the remainder of his life in this country. 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 389 

and in the following March it arrived in the United States. 
As soon as it was made public, the whole country was in- 
flamed. . Not only the opposition, but a large portion of 
those who had supported the administration, were ao-aiust 
the ratification. The former attacked the president in the 
most abusive manner ; and addresses were sent in from nearly 
all the seaports, and from many interior towns, inveighing 
against the treaty. In Boston only one man raised his voice 
in favor of it ; and at a town meeting, held on the 10th of 
July, a loud remonstrance was uttered against it. The 
Chamber, of Commerce took a more liberal view, and sent 
an address to the president unanimously approving the treaty. 
Washington's reply to the selectmen of Boston plainly shows 
the serenity of a great and good mind, under as trying cir- 
cumstances as could ever occur to any man. 

" In every act of my administration," he wrote, " I have 
sought the happiness of my fellow-citizens. My system, for 
the attainment of this object, has been, to overlook all per- 
sonal, local, and partial considerations ; to contemplate the 
United States as one great whole ; to confide that sudden 
impressions, when erroneous, would yield to candid reflection, 
and to consult only the permanent and substantial interests 
of our country. Nor have I departed from this line of 
conduct on the occasion which has produced the resolutions 
contained in your letter. 

" Without a predilection for my own judgment, I have 
weighed with attention every argument which has at any 
time been brought into view. But the constitution is the 
guide which I never can abandon. It has assigned to the 
president the power of making treaties, with the advice and 
consent of the Senate. It was doubtless supposed that these 
two branches would combine, without passion, and with the 



390 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

best means of information, those facts and principles, on 
which the success of our foreign relations will always depend ; 
that they ought not to substitute for their own convictions 
the opinions of others, or to seek truth through any chan- 
nel, but that of a temperate and well informed investigation. 
Under this persuasion, I have resolved on the manner of 
executing the duty before me."^ 

The treaty was ratified on the 24th of June by precisely 
a two thirds majority. In consequence, the citizens of Boston 
behaved like madmen ; riots were frequent, houses were 
attacked, and Mr. Jay was burned in effigy. The governor 
unwisely refused to suppress the tumult, alleging that it 
was " a mere watermelon frolic — the harmless amusement 
of young persons." 2 

In April, 1797, Increase Sumner, for several years a judge 
of the Supreme Judicial Court, was chosen governor of Mas- 
sachusetts in the place of Mr. Adams, who, on account of 
the infirmities of his age, had refused to stand a re-election. 
In the same year, and one month earlier, John Adams had 
succeeded Washington as president of the United States. 
Mr. Adams, made up from natural propensities and from the 
circumstances of his life, came to the presidency at the time 
when more forbearance and discretion were required than 
many supposed him to possess. It was his misfortune to 
have been deficient in the rare excellence of attempting to 
see himself as others saw him ; • and he ventured to act as 
though everybody saw as he saw himself. He considered 
only what was right in his own views ; and that was to be 
carried by main force, whatever were the obstacles. To 
many he appeared to be the counterpart of a genuine repub- 
lican — tainted with conceits and affected with a vanity 

' Sparks's Washington, ix. 42. * Bradford, iii. 53. 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION: 391 

which entirely disqualified him for the station he filled. 
Hence the rancor of these, his opponents, was increased by 
his success. But after all, whatever may be said relative to 
his faults and his blunders, it is impossible to read either the 
man or his writings, without believing that Mr. Adams was 
at least the equal, if not the superior, of his distinguished 
associates. 

When Mr. Adams took the chair, he found the country 
involved in difficulties with France. France was jealous of 
the " increasing activity of the commercial relations betwixt 
the United States and England," and seemed desirous, by 
her decrees against American commerce, to force this country 
into a war with England, In view of all circumstances, the 
president resolved to prepare for the support of American 
rights ; and thinking that the state of affairs demanded the 
deliberations of Congress, he convened that body on the loth 
of May, 1797. In the same month he appointed, without 
the unanimous consent of his cabinet, Charles Cotesworth 
Pinckney, Elbridge Gerry, and John Marshall, commissioners 
to the court of France. These envoys arrived in Paris in 
October, and were received in a most shabby and discour- 
teous manner ; they were not even publicly accredited, and 
persons were sent in a private and informal manner to ascer- 
tain their views, and to learn upon what terms the United 
States were willing to purchase the friendship of France. 

In consequence of such treatment, Mr. Pinckney and Mr. 
Marshall, in April, 1798, left France ; but Mr. Gerry, upon 
invitation, remained to continue the negotiation, and for 
so doing was severely censured by his fellow-countrymen. 
When the despatches of the envoys were brought before 
Congress and before the country,, the cry arose, " Millions 
for defence, not a cent for tribute." In the summer Con- 



392 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

gress made provision for defence, by authorizing the presi- 
dent to raise an army of twenty thousand men. Commercial 
intercourse between the' two countries was suspended ; for- 
mer treaties with France were declared to be no longer 
binding, and alien and sedition laws were passed. The 
whole country glowed with patriotism and defiance ; and 
Mr. Adams considered this the proudest period of his public 
Hfe.. 

"War began in earnest — on the ocean. On the 9th of 
February, 1799, after an engagement of an hour and a 
quarter, the frigate " Constellation," of thirty-eight guns, 
captured in the West Indies the French frigate " I'lnsur- 
gent," of fifty-four guns. In the following year, same month, 
the Constellation silenced " I'Vengeance," but failed to cap- 
ture her. About the same time the frigate " Constitution " 
was built in Boston, and ordered into service. 

France was surprised by the hostility of America ; and 
the loud complaints against Mr. Adams, among the friends 
of the government, prevented the continuance of a war, in 
which the United States had much to lose and nothing to 
gain. So far as mere interest was concerned, the president's 
policy was right ; but so far as honor and dignity were 
involved, an entirely different opinion prevailed. When it 
was seen that the United States would not submit to insult, 
the French government made overtures for peace. The 
president accordingly appointed two commissioners of peace, 
and sent them to Paris. When they arrived, the Director}'- 
had disappeared, and Napoleon Bonaparte was First Consul. 
They were respectfully received, and a treaty was framed, 
and duly ratified by both parties. 

Governor Sumner warmly sympathized with the president 
in this whole proceeding ; and, consequently, in 1798 his 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 393 

re-election was strongly opposed. In the following year, 
however, he was chosen by a very large majority. To the 
grief of his friends, he died before taking the oath of office ; 
and Moses Gill, the lieutenant governor filled the chair 
during the rest of the year. 

Caleb Strong, the successor of Mr. Gill, was governor of 
Massachusetts from May 1800 to May 1807. He was elected 
by the federalistic party, and his competitor was Mr. Gerry. 
Meantime the fourth presidential canvass was approaching. 
The opposition to Mr. Adams was exceedingly violent ; his 
conduct was condemned as " a heterogeneous compound of 
right and wrong, of wisdom and error;" and the result of 
the canvass was the election of Thomas Jefferson by a vote 
of the House. Massachusetts voted for Mr. Adams ; never- 
theless, the governor in his annual address, " expressed 
himself in a conciliatory manner toward the new adminis- 
tration, although the result had not corresponded with the 
wishes of many citizens of the commonwealth." " They will 
reflect," he observed, " that in republics, the opinion of the 
majority must prevail, and that obedience to the laws and 
respect for the constitutional authorities are essential to the 
character of a good citizen." ^ 

At the next presidential election, Mr. Jefferson was re- 
chosen,' the vote of Massachusetts being given in his favor. 
Three years later, in 1807, James Sullivan succeeded Mr. 
Strong as governor of the commonwealth. Under the in- 
fluence of the president, party contentions were becoming 
excessively bitter. There was not only the common struggle 
for power, from which even absolute despotisms are not 
exempt, and which is inseparable from all elective govern- 
ments, but the politics and contentions in Europe were being 

^ Bradford, iii. 82. • 

50 



394 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

artfully intermingled with all the elections which occurred 
in the United States. The daily press not only discussed 
qualifications for office, but descended to personalities and 
calumnies, which might induce one to suppose that the 
Americans had been astute in selecting the worst men of 
their nation for public trust. 

Not long after his second inauguration, both the president 
and his cabinet were accused of a leaning toward France, 
and of a wish to j)rovoke Great Britain. In the mean time 
England and Trance vied with each other in issuing and 
enforcing decrees, and both committed frequent spoliations 
upon American commerce. As a scheme of retaliation, and to 
bring the belligerents to terms. Congress, on the recommen- 
dation of the president, laid an embargo prohibiting Ameri- 
can commerce with France and England. This embargo 
was. laid on the 22d of December, 1807, and was without 
period or limitation. It was this feature of the bill which 
alarmed the people of Massachusetts, and induced many of 
them to condemn the president as a " traitor." Everywhere 
in the United States the embargo itself was exceedingly 
unpopular ; and the intelligent portion of the people failed 
to see what benefit could be derived from their ships rotting 
in the ports, their seamen out of employment, the industry 
of the country prostrated, and the millions of surplus prop- 
erty now worthless for want of a market. Notwithstanding 
this outburst of popular indignation, the partisans of the 
president increased even in New England ; but when, some 
months later, the pressure of the embargo began to be felt, 
the people again complained bitterly of the impolicy. In 
Congress violent debates were held from day to day upon 
the exciting topic, and people of all ranks now saw that the 
embargo was a futile measure ; and that instead of bringing 



ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 395 

the French and English to terms, it was the subject of their 
ridicule, while it was becoming more and more ruinous to 
the nation. 

In the mean while the sixth presidential election had taken 
place, and Mr. Madison had been chosen to fill the executive 
chair. Three days before the close of Jefferson's adminis- 
tration, on the 27th of February, 1809, the arbitrary act, 
which had been forced upon the country without a moment's 
warning, and which had brought ruin upon thousands, was 
repealed. By the death of Mr. Sullivan in the preceding 
December, Levi Lincoln, the lieutenant governor, became 
the chief magistrate of Massachusetts. At this time the 
executive Council was composed entirely of federalists, and 
there were federal majorities in both branches of the legisla- 
ture. In his speech to the legislature, at the January session, 
Lieutenant Governor Lincoln noticed the event which had 
made it his duty to address that assembly ; and in its reply, 
the House spoke in high terms of the deceased chief magis- 
trate, saying that he, "in the discharge of his high and 
important trust, appeared rather desirous to be the governor 
of Massachusetts than the leader of a party, or the vindic- 
tive champion of its cause." Mr. Lincoln was a devoted 
partisan of Jefferson, and as such, sought to introduce a more 
stringent system of policy. He condemned every public 
remonstrance against the embargo as seditious and uncalled 
for, and took an extraordinary course to suppress them. But, 
as has already been noticed, the effect of the embargo, and 
the tyrannical measures adopted to enforce it, the poverty 
and distress which were daily increasing, compelled the 
citizens to investigate causes, and to think for themselves. 

In April, 1809, Christopher Gore was the federal candidate 
for the ofiSce of governor, and was elected. The embargo 



396 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

having been removed, and the busy citizens of Massachusetts 
having engaged in their accustomed vocations ; and thinking 
more of these, than of political dangers and duties, an 
opportunity was again afforded for the " friends of the 
people " to take a majority into their custody. By the 
democratic party, — once more the triumphant party in the 
state, — Elbridge Gerry was nominated and elected governor 
of Massachusetts. He held his office from May, 1810, to 
May, 1812 ; and the result of his election was deemed an 
indorsement of the policy of Madison: 



THE WAR OF 1812. 397 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE WAR OF 1812. 

At the time when Elbridge Gerry became chief magis- 
trate of Massachusetts, inteUigent statesmen were demur- 
ring at the policy of the general government, and were 
confidently predicting a war with England. The people, 
of course, deprecated such an event, and these same states- 
men believed that, under the guidance of a prudent and 
magnanimous spirit, the difficulties existing between the two 
governments might be amicably adjusted. 

Governor Gerry was a democrat, and in both branches of 
the General Court the majorities were democratic ; further- 
more, both the executive and the legislature were harmonious 
in purpose. Mr. Gerry's first act was, in pursuance of the 
Jeffersonian system, to remove from office many who had 
long and faithfully served the commonwealth. The cause 
of such removals was simply that these incumbents were 
not of the dominant party. The County Courts were 
organized anew ; the appointment of clerks of the judi- 
cial courts was vested in the governor, instead of in the 
judges ; and minor offices were filled by the governor's politi- 
cal friends. In January, 1812, Mr. Gerry openly accused the 
federal party " of being anti-republican in its principles, and 
opposed to the measures of the general government." " Are 
we not called upon," said he, " to decide whether we will 
commit the liberty and independence of ourselves and pos- 



398 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

terity to the fidelity and protection of a national adminis- 
tration, — at the head of which is a Madison, supported by 
an executive department, a Senate, and a House of Repre- 
sentatives abounding with revolutionary and other merito- 
rious patriots, — or to a British administration, the disciples 
of Bute, who was the author of a plan to enslave these 
states, and to American royalists who co-operated with that 
government to bind us in chains while colonists ? Is it not 
morally and politically impossible that a doubt can exist in 
regard to the choice?"^ 

In the following month the governor sent a still more 
extraordinary message to the legislature, commenting on 
the severe remarks of the public press with reference to 
his own conduct and the policy of the national government. 
After the reading of the message, a member of the sen- 
ate arose, and offered a resolution, " that the governor, in 
denouncing various publications in the Boston newspapers 
as libels, especially after a grand jury, upon an examina- 
tion of some of those publications, had refused to find 
bills of indictment, manifests an alarming disposition to usurp 
the power belonging to the judicial" department, tending to 
criminate and injure the reputation of individuals, without 
affording them an opportunity of defence ; and that the 
employing of the law officers of the commonwealth in ex- 
amining files of newspapers for the purpose of collecting 
and divesting such publications, with a view of presenting 
them to the legislature instead of to a grand jury, is a 
departure from his constitutional province, and an infringe- 
ment upon private rights." ^ 

In the midst of the excitement, a new gubernational elec- 
tion took place, which resulted in the choice of Caleb Strong 

> Messase of Jan. 8, 1812. « Boston Centinel for 1812. 



THE WAR OF 1812. 399 

by a very small majority. It has been said that " it is 
possible that the conduct of Mr. Gerry, in districting the 
state for the election of senators, had some influence on 
the popular vote ; and it was alleged that the division thus 
made, which the federalists christened with the name of 
' Gerrymandering,' was ' new and arbitrary,' and was ' de- 
signed to secure the triumph of the repubUcan party.' " ^ 
So far as the Senate was concerned, it had this effect ; 
but a majority of the House was of the federal party. 

When, after the revolutionary strife, John Adams arrived 
in England as the minister plenipotentiary of the United 
States, he was graciously received, and affected almost to 
tears, by the honest words of King George : " I was the 
last man in the kingdom, sir, to consent to the indepen- 
dence of America ; but now it is granted, I shall be the 
last man in the world to sanction a violation of it." Mr. 
Jefferson had faithfully cherished all the causes of contro- 
versy with Great Britain, and by refusing to enter into a 
compromise, had made the breach wider. These causes 
of controversy were, briefly, the colonial trade ; the block- 
ades by England ; the affair of the Chesapeake ; the im- 
pressment of seamen from American merchant vessels, and 
the Orders of the King in Council. In March, 1809, when 
Mr. Madison became president, and in June, 1812, when 
war was declared, England sincerely desired to avoid a 
conflict ; but the administration was disposed otherwise ; and 
even Lloyd, who had taken the place of John Qaincy 
Adams in the United States Senate, declared, as the voice 
of Massachusetts, in favor of rigorous measures.^ 



' Barry, iii. 369. 

2 See Lloyd's Speech in Annals of Congress, 12 Cong., 1st series, i. 
131-U7. 



400 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In Marcli, 1812, Mr. Madison sent a message to Congress, 
in which he wrote, " I lay before Congress copies of certain 
documents which remain in the department of state. They 
prove, that at a recent period, whilst the United States, not- 
withstanding the wrongs sustained by them, ceased not to 
observe the laws of peace and neutrality toward Great Brit- 
ain, and in the midst of amicable professions and negotiations 
on the part of the British government, through its public min- 
ister here, a secret agent of that government was employed, 
in certain states, more especially at the seat of government 
in Massachusetts^ in fomenting disaffection to the constituted 
authorities of the nation ; and in intrigues with the dis- 
affected, for the purpose of bringing about resistance to the 
laws, and eventually, in concert with a British force, of 
destroying the Union, and forming the eastern part thereof 
into a political connection with Great Britain." In the 
following month, at the president's suggestion, an embargo 
for sixty days, prohibiting " the sailing of any vessel for 
any foreign port, except foreign vessels with such cargoes 
as they had on board when notified of the act," was passed 
by Congress. Josiah Quincy strenuously opposed the act, 
on the ground that he did not believe " the proposed em- 
bargo was a preparation for war, but a refuge from the 
question of declaring war." ^ Other acts which followed 
were more decisive, and showed plainly that the admin- 
istration was in earnest. On the 18th of June, Congress 
declared war against Great Britain, and thus, unhappily, 
closed the door to reconciliation. The friends of peace re- 
sisted the declaration of war in Congress with reason, good 
sense, faithful love of country, and serious eloquence ; but 
such weapons were powerless against the infatuation of party. 

1 Niles's Register, ii. 107-121. HUdreth, U. S., vi. 293. 



THE WAR OF 1812. 401 

In Boston, which had " long been the seat of discontent, 
complaint, and turbulence," the opposition was general. 
" Whatever difficulty or distress- arose from the extraor- 
dinary circumstances of the times, — and great difficulty and 
distress were inevitable, — was aggravated and magnified to 
the highest degree for the purpose of inflaming the public 
passions. From the moment when the war was declared, 
they clamored for peace, and reprobated the war as wicked, 
unjust, and unnecessary. They made every possible effort 
to raise obstructions and difficulties in the prosecution of the 
war, and yet reprobated the administration for their imbe- 
cility in carrying it on. They reduced the government to 
bankruptcy, and reproached it for its necessities and embar- 
rassments. In a word, all their movements had but one 
object — to enfeeble and distract the government."^ 

The governor communicated the intelligence of the dec- 
laration of war to the General Court on the 23d of June. 
Three days later the House declared against the event, 
and expressed their opinion of its inexpediency ; but the 
Senate, taking an entirely opposite view, declared the policy 
both just and necessary. Three fourths of the people sanc- 
tioned the opinion of the House. Shortly afterwards, the 
Senate published an address approving of the war, which, 
by the enemies of England, was applauded as a document 
of great power. " The Senate " — such are the words of 
the address — " affect not to disguise from their constituents 
that the times are times of peril. The enemies of republics 
are on the alert. The present is deemed the favorable time 
for the dismemberment of the Union — that favorite project 
of the British government, which has been attempted by 
their authorized agent, and we have alarming proofs, is 

' Carey's Olive Branch, 253. 

51 



402 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

countenanced and cherished by citizens of this government. 
Yes, we say with assurance, that a deep and deadly design 
is formed against our happy Union. We say it from con- 
viction, forced on our minds, from declarations from re- 
sponsible sources, from intrigues that have existed between 
the enemies of republics and an authorized British spy, 
and from a settled determination to oppose the government 
in the prosecution of the war now forced upon us." ^ 

The address of the House was of a different tone. " It 
must be evident to you that a president who has made this 
war is not qualified to make peace ; and that the men who 
have concurred in this act of desperation are pledged to 
persevere in this course, regardless of all consequences. Dis- 
play, then, the majesty of the people in the exercise of your 
Tights, and, sacrificing all party feelings at the altar of your 
^country's good, resolve to displace those who have abused 
their power and betrayed their trust. Organize a i^eace 
party throughout your country, and let all other party 
distinctions vanish. Keep a steadfast eye upon the presi- 
dential election, and remember that if he whose fatal policy 
has plunged 3^ou into this unexampled calamity is again 
raised to the chair, and if the abettors of war are to be 
intrusted with conducting it, you will have nothing to ex- , 
pect, for years to come, but ' the sword of the warrior, 
and garments rolled in blood ; ' and that if you should, by 
your aid, accelerate the fall of Great Britain, you would 
' merely deliver over your exhausted country and enslaved 
posterity to the dominion of a tyrant, whose want of power 
alone restrains him from the exercise of unlimited despo- 
ttism on the ocean, and the same tyranny in the New World 

' Address of the Senate, 27. 



THE WAR OF 1812. ' 403 

whicli he has imposed upon the Old." 1 The address of the 
federal members of Co ogress was equally temperate. 

Of the military and naval character of the war, it is 
not the duty of the present historian to write. All this 
went on like other wars, with the exception that it soon 
became defensive on the part of the United States. The 
requisition upon Massachusetts for a detachment of militia 
led to a correspondence between Governor Strong and Gen- 
eral Dearborn, the commander of the national troops then 
stationed in the state. The cause of the correspondence 
was the refusal of the governor to call out the militia. Gen- 
eral Dearborn renewed his demand, and shortly afterwards 
the secretary of war wrote a letter to the governor, urging 
him to comply. The chief magistrate, in a message to 
the legislature, defended his course, on the ground that 
he " presumed, if this state was in danger, the regular 
troops would not have been ordered to the north-west fron- 
tiers ; and if they were so ordered, the militia were not 
liable to be called into service, and stationed in the forts 
of the United States to do garrison duty, when no danger 
of invasion appeared. I have been fully disposed to comply 
with the requirements of the constitution of the United 
States, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, and sin- 
cerely regret that a request should have been made by 
an officer of the national government, with which I could 
not constitutionally comply. But it appeared to me that 
this requisition was of that character ; and I was under 
the same obligation to maintain the rights of the state 
as to support the constitution of the United States." ^ 

A few days after the declaration of war, the president, 

' Address of the House, Niles's Reg., ii. 417. 

2 Mass. Resolves, for 1812. Bradford, iii. 139-152. 



404 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

through Secretary of State Monroe, made proposals for an 
armistice, preliminary to a definitive settlement of all dif- 
ferences. But this action amounted to nothing. In the 
existing state of affairs, bereft as was the administration 
of the confidence of the country, and absolutely bankrupt 
in resources, a measure was devised to command men for 
naval and land service. Mr. Madison directed his secretary 
of state to propose to' Congress a system of impressment, 
more odious than was ever known in England, and a con- 
scription more shocking than had ever been experienced 
in France. Congress assembled on the 19th of September, 
1814, and on the 17th of the following month Mr. Monroe 
presented his conscription plan. Eighty thousand men were, 
by a law proposed by Mr. Giles of Virginia, to be submitted 
to the conscription, probably as the first call. The law 
passed the House ; the term of service was limited to one 
year, and it provided that the president might call directly 
on the militia officers for the men, in case the governors 
of states refused, on request of the president, to detach 
and surrender the required number. It is highly probable 
that, if it had been attempted to enforce the system of im- 
pressment and military conscription by law, the government 
would have come to an end. The citizens of the United 
States could not, and would not, have submitted themselves 
to its operation. 

Though it had signally failed in this scheme, the admin- 
istration was still resolved to continue the war. In the 
summer of 1814, the enemy had taken posession of so much 
of the State of Maine as extends from the British Prov- 
inces to the Penobscot, and held absolute command in all 
the neighboring waters. It was apprehended that attacks 
would be made upon the seaport towns, and the whole 



THE WAR OF 1812. 405 

of New England was in terror. Governor Strong called 
the legislature together, and laid before them the state 
of the country. The general sentiment was that the New 
England States ought to combine, utterly abandoned as they 
were by the national government, to save themselves by 
their own force and resources from becoming a conquered 
country. The legislature was resolved that a common cause 
should be made among, all the New England maritime states, 
and that, to effect this object, delegates should be invited 
to assemble at Hartford on the 15th of December following, 
and that reports should be made to the legislatures of their 
respective states.^ 

At the appointed time, the convention met at Hartford, 
and comprised twenty-six federal delegates, of whom twelve 
were from Massachusetts, seven from Connecticut, four from 
Rhode Island, two from New Hampshire, and one from 
Vermont. The convention was in session from the 15th 
of December, 1814, to the 5th of January following, and 
all of its proceedings were conducted with closed doors. 
In accordance with the sentiments expressed in the call 
for the convention, the members were enjoined not to pro- 
pose measures " repugnant to their obligations as members 
of the Union ; " and after deliberating for twenty days, 
the convention published an address to the people. After 
recapitulating the evils which the war had brought upon the 
people, this address expresses the sentiments of the mem- 
bers upon other wrongs ; such as the enlistment of minors 
and apprentices, the national government assuming to com- 
mand the state militia, and especially the proposed sys- 
tem of conscription for both army and navy. Strange 
propositions for a government professedly waging war to 

» Resolves of the Gen. Court, for Oct 1814. Bradford, iii. 211-212. 



406 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

protect its seamen from impressment ! " The conscription 
of the father, with the seduction of the son, renders complete 
the power of the national executive over the male popu- 
lation of the country, thus destroying the most important 
relations of society." " A free constitution, administered 
by great and incomparable statesmen, realized the fondest 
hopes of liberty and independence, under Washington and 
his measures. The arts flourished, the comforts of life were 
universally diffused, nothing remained but to reap the ad- 
vantages and cherish the resources flowing from this policy." 
" Our object is to strengthen and perpetuate the union 
of these states, by removing the causes of jealousies." 

In furtherance of such views, the address proposed 
amendments to the constitution, • — among others, to equal- 
ize the representation in the lower House of Congress, by 
basing it on free population ; against embargoes and non- 
intercourse laws ; and to make the president ineligible for a 
second term. These amendments were never adopted by 
the states. 

The Hartford convention was for many years a rich and 
inexhaustible fund of abuse and crimination, notwithstand- 
ing that its twenty-six members were as wise, as loyal, and 
as patriotic as the average of the legislators and politicians 
of that day or since. Those persons who knew the least 
of the causes which led to the convention, and nothing 
of the motives of those who were its members, were the 
most busy and the most malignant calumniators. By these 
persons the secrecy of the convention was construed to mean 
most treasonable designs ; but to the opponents of the ad- 
ministration, who knew the men there assembled, and knew 
also that they could listen to no counsels, nor propose nor 
adopt any measure inconsistent with duty, self-respect, and 



THE WAR OF 1812. 407 

sober wisdom, the secrecy was in no wise alarming, but on 
the contrary, satisfying and consolatory. 

After receiving and adopting the report of the convention, 
the legislature of Massachusetts sent Harrison Gray Otis, 
Thomas H. Perkins, and William Sullivan as commissioners 
to Washington, to request the consent of the general Con- 
gress to the measures recommended by the convention. The 
commissioners arrived in Washington about the middle of 
February, 1815, " one day after the news of peace had 
reached that city." ^ 

Universal and unalloyed joy followed the tidings that 
a peace had been negotiated with Great Britain. In Boston, 
especially, the news " gave great joy to every patriot." A 
procession was formed, a banquet was given in Faneuil Hall, 
and in the evening the town was illuminated. The victory 
at New Orleans, on the 8th of the month preceding, was the 
crowning event of the war, and was everywhere applauded. 

The conflict being ended, the citizens of the United States 
returned ' to their peaceful avocations. In Massachusetts, 
every effort was made to increase the industrial resources 
of the state. Before the year closed, thirty-four new manu- 
facturing companies were incorporated for the manufacture 
of woollen and cotton cloths, and several large mills were 
erected. "As a consequence of these changes, and of the 
development of the mechanical and agricultural resources 
of the state, railroads radiate in every direction ; the com- 
merce of the state xn circles the globe ; towns have be- 
come cities, and villages towns ; our people are eminentlj'- 
an industrial people ; with the increase of wealth and of 
the comforts of life, the arts and the sciences have been 
successfully cultivated; the press, the great engine of civ- 

1 Otis's Letters, 38. 



408 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ilization, is actively at work for the enlightenment of the 
public ; our manners and customs have been ameliorated 
and improved ; the interests of religion and morality are 
fostered ; and the progress of society, and its intellectual 
advancement, have kept pace with its secondary and tempo- 
ral advancement." ^ 

The administration of Governor Strong closed in 1816. 
His successor was John Brooks, a revolutionary patriot, 
who had been a member of the convention for adopting 
the federal constitution, a representative and senator in the 
state legislature, and a member of the Council under Gov- 
ernor Strong. Without high pretensions to intellectual dis- 
tinction, he was a man of practical wisdom, sound judgment, 
and of a pure and elevated mind. It may be said, also, that 
no man was more than he esteemed and respected. He 
was a federalist, but no one was more attached to republi- 
can principles, and no one more readily subscribed to the 
doctrine that civil and political power emanate from the 
people. Remarkably conciliating and popular, he secured the 
confidence of both parties, and was for- seven years succes- 
sively chosen chief magistrate of the state. 

The two principal events of his long administration were 
the erection of the District of Maine into a separate state, 
and the revision of the state constitution. Petitions for 
the separation of the District of Maine were first preferred 
to the legislature of Massachusetts in 1816, and a con- 
vention was appointed to be holden at Brunswick. This 
convention voted in favor of the step, but the separation 
was not effected until 1820, at which time Maine was 
erected into a distinct and independent commonwealth, and 
was admitted into the American Union. 

' Barry, iii. 421. 



THE WAR OF 1812. 409 

In accordance with the votes of the people, a convention 
of nearly five hundred men assembled in Boston in No- 
vember, 1820, for the purpose of revising the constitution 
of the state. The venerable John Adams, then in his eighty- 
fifth year, was called to preside ; but, owing to the infirmi- 
ties of age. Chief Justice Isaac Parker was chosen in his 
place. The sessions of the convention continued for about 
seven weeks, during which time amendments, embodied in 
fourteen articles, were j)roposed, and afterwards submitted 
to the people. Only nine of these amendments were ul- 
timately approved. These were as follows : " That the 
governor should have five days, while the General Court was 
in session, to consider and object to any bill presented to 
him for signature ; that the legislature should have power 
to constitute municipal or city governments in any town 
containing at least twelve thousand inhabitants, reserving 
the power to annul any by-laws made by such govern- 
ments ; that all male persons of the age of twenty-one 
years, who had resided in the state for one year, and for 
six months within the town in which they claimed a right 
to vote, and who had paid a tax assessed upon them within 
two years, should have and enjoy the right of suffrage ; 
that, in the election of military officers, those under twenty- 
one years of age, who were regular members of a company, 
should have a right to vote ; that notaries public should be 
appointed by the governor, with the consent of the Coun- 
cil, in the same manner and for the same time as justices 
of the peace, which was for the term of seven years ; that 
no county attorney, clerk of a court, sheriff, register of 
probate, or register of deeds, should, at the same time, 
be a member of the Congress of the United States, and 
that no judge of the Court of Common Pleas should hold 
62 



410 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

any other office under the commonwealth except that of 
justice of the peace, or an office in the militia ; and that 
future amendments should receive the consent of the major- 
ity of the Senate and two thirds of the House, be pub- 
lished and approved by the like numbers in the next Gen- 
eral Court, then submitted to the people, and, if approved 
by a majority of their votes, become a part of the constitu- 
tion. In addition to these propositions, that part of the con- 
stitution which required all the legislators, magistrates, and 
civil officers to declare their belief in the Christian religion 
was annulled, and the oath of allegiance was likewise 
abridged." ^ 

This event — which, it ought to be said, in no wise ma- 
terially affected the integrity of the instrument which the 
wisdom of the fathers had framed — marks the two hun- 
dredth 3-ear of the history of ]\Iassachusetts. Whether the 
period be viewed as a whole, or in part, it may safely be 
affirmed that the history of no other state in the Amer- 
ican Union is more striking, or more suggestive of great 
and important lessons. 

' Barry, iii. 424. 



THE ERA OF POLITICS. 411 



CHAPTER XXI. 
THE ERA OF POLITICS. 

After the close of the war of 1812 the Anti-Federalist, 
or Democratic party, as it was afterwards called, gradually- 
gained strength. As has previously been seen, the course 
of the dominant, or Federalist party, during the contest with 
England, had given occasion for a considerable defection 
from its support, especially among the young men of the 
country. When, however, the original grounds of disaffec- 
tion and dispute were removed, the feeling thereby engen- 
dered died away, and the second term of Mr. Monroe's 
administration was everywhere spoken of as " the era of 
good feeling."- 

During the winter of 1820 the public mind was greatly 
agitated by the discussion of the question whether or not 
Missouri should be admitted into the Union with a constitu- 
tion making slavery one of its features. While some affirmed 
that slavery is inhuman, that the relation between master 
and slave is demoralizing to both, and that the founders of 
the Republic had opposed slavery, as a cruel institution, 
others declared that if the founders of the republic were 
opposed to slavery in theory, they failed to practise this 
theory; that the constitution recognized and defended sla- 
very ; and that the labor in the south could not be performed 
without the help of slaves. With regard to the question, 
both federalists and democrats were of one mind in the 



412 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

north. Mass meetings were held all over New England, 
and Boston was especially foremost in speaking her sense 
of what the crisis demanded. After a long dispute the 
question was settled by a compromise. Congress agreed 
that Missouri should come into the Union as a slave state ; 
but that slavery should be elsewhere forbidden in new 
states north of 36° 30' north latitude, — this being the 
southern border line of Missouri. Such was the famous 
" Missouri Compromise," which, like compromises of princi- 
ple generally, only postponed the day of evil. 

Whilst the good feeling prevailed in respect to the national 
elections, party lines in Massachusetts still remained dis- 
tinctly drawn. Governor Brooks labored assiduously to 
discharge the duties of his office, and all of his addresses to 
the legislature evinced large and liberal views of the policy 
of the state, united with a spirit of moderation and impar- 
tiality. It was impossible to bring less of the partisan to 
the performance of official duty. Governor Brooks remained 
in office until 1823, and the entire period of his administra- 
tion was marked by a high degree of public progress and 
prosperity. The census of 1820 showed a population in 
Massachusetts of six hundred and twenty-two thousand two 
hundred and eighty-seven souls, residing in fifty-seven towns. 
The population of Boston at this time was upward of forty- 
three thousand. In the autumn of 1822, the " Massachusetts 
Society to aid in the Suppression of the Slave Trade," was 
organized, and provided with a constitution. The object 
of the association was to help on the work of the American 
Colonization Society, of which, indeed, it was a branch. 

The growth of population in the state demanded some 
change in the old almshouse system which had come down 
from colonial times. After the opening of the General 



THE ERA OF POLITICS. 413 

Court, in June, 1820, Mr. Josiah Qtiincy moved for an 
inquiry into the subject of pauperism, and was made chair- , 
man of a committee appointed for the purpose. In tlie 
following January the committee submitted a report which 
condensed the experience of England and Massachusetts as 
to the various methods of dealing with the subject. This 
report was widely circulated, and thus gave rise to the 
improved system of treating the dependent poor. A little 
later, measures were instituted for the erection of a House 
of Industry for the town of Boston ; and in March, 1822, 
Boston ceased to be a town, and became a civic corporation, 
— Mr. John Phillips being chosen as the first mayor. 

At this period Daniel Webster, born on the 18th of Jan- 
uary, 1782, at Salisbury, N. H., was a member of the Boston 
bar. He had been hitherto known as a leading member of 
Congress, and as a very eminent lawyer. At the age of 
thirty-eight he had achieved a reputation second to that 
of no other man in America, and was naturally regarded as 
one of the great leaders of his party. In the autumn of 
1822 he was urged by delegates from all the wards to 
become the representative of Boston in Congress. His 
circumstances were not independent ; and having once served 
with distinction in the House of Representatives, and vol- 
untarily retired from it, he did not wish to return to that 
body. Nevertheless he was unwilling to reject the honor 
which was proposed, and therefore accepted the nomination, 
and was elected by a very large majority of votes. He 
returned to Congress in December, 1823. The federal 
party, to which he had previously belonged, was no longer 
an existing organization ; neither could there be said to be 
any well-defined republican party remaining. Not yet, 
however, had the old names ceased to be used. 



414 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Governor Brooks was succeeded, in . 1823, by William 
Eustis, who had previously served as Secretary of "War of 
the United States, as Minister to Holland, besides having 
been a prominent member of Congress. Governor Eustis 
was chosen as chief magistrate by the republican party, and 
every branch of the state government was likewise republi- 
can. His administration was marked by but few events of 
importance, and his whole course was one of peace and 
prosperity. At the presidential election in 1824, Levi Lin- 
coln, the lieutenant governor, was one of the electors on 
the part of Massachusetts, and cast a vote for John Quincy 
Adams. Mr. Webster, who in the same autumn was again 
elected to Congress, had no strong personal preferences for 
Mr. Adams, and was not likely to favor his election. Mr. 
Adams, however, received the electoral votes of all the 
New England states, and Mr. Webster felt bound to give 
effect to this expression of the popular voice in this region. 
At the first ballot, in February, Mr. Adams was elected, and 
on the 4th of March, 1825, he took his seat. 

In 1824, Mr. Lathrop was nominated as a candidate for 
governor, against Governor Eustis, receiving thirty-four 
thousand votes to thirty-eight thousand for the latter. Gov- 
ernor Eustis died in February, 1825. Mr. Lathrop declined 
to be a candidate again, and Mr. Lincoln declined being a 
candidate upon a democratic nomination. Whereupon the 
Federal Convention voted that it was inexpedient to make 
a party nomination, and upon a ballot for a candidate for 
the office of governor unanimously proposed Mr. Lincoln. 
At the election, the latter received thirty-five thousand out 
of thirty-seven thousand votes, and entered upon the office 
on the last Wednesday in May, 1825. 

Mr. Lincoln proved himself a magistrate admirably suited 



THE ERA OF POLITICS. 415 

to meet the wants of the commonwealth. While fully- 
understanding these wants, he exerted his utmost energies 
to take care of, and advance the social, political, and eco- 
nomical interests of the state. In his inaugural message he 
alludes to several o/ these interests. At this period the 
construction of a canal from Boston to the Connecticut River 
was a favorite scheme for internal communication. He 
refers to this, " with favor, and suggests that he has been 
assured that another mode, by railways, had been approved 
of in England. But ' how far they would be affected by our 
severe frosts cannot be conjectured yet,' and whether they 
are better than canals remained to be determined. He 
speaks with approbation of the encouragement recently given 
to agriculture by the incorporation of societies, and calls 
upon the legislature to relieve the manufacturing interests 
by a change of the law which held stockholders in corpora- 
tions liable personally for the debts of their company to an 
unlimited extent. He accompanies these statements with 
the suggestive fact, that commerce was falling off, and 
reminds the legislature of the necessity of prompt measures 
in favor of a revival of the trade and business of the state." ^ 
Several railroads were incorporated during the .administra- 
tion of Governor Lincoln, one of them being from Boston 
to the " City of Lowell," in 1829 ; though the name of that 
city had as yet no place upon the map of Massachusetts. 
But facilities for trade and intercourse were not the only 
objects of the care and encouragement of Governor Lincoln. 
Home industry received a large share of his attention. The 
cause of American industry, especially, received his counte- 
nance, and to-day the entire commonwealth is reaping the 
fruits of his protecting policy. During his administration 

' Washburn, Memoir, 16. 



416 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

a decided change for the better was introduced into the 
prevailing system of prison discipline. For many years, to 
be sure, the barbarous custom of " whipping, cropping, and 
shutting up in dungeons and jails, in idleness, those who had 
been convicted of crimes," had been discontinued, a state 
prison had been erected at Charlestown, and a certain amount 
of labor was required of its inmates. Governor Lincoln, dur- 
ing one of his visits to the state prison, found the inmates 
" lodged in large rooms, containing, in some cases, sixteen 
persons, where they were shut up together, thus subjecting 
the yet unhardened convict to the Certain process of hopeless 
corruption and remediless ruin. They were literally festering 
in each other's defilement, under the pretence of correction 
and reform." " Better," says the governor, in his annual 
message in 1826, " even that the laws should be written in 
blood, than thus be executed in sin." He recommended the 
plan adopted at the Auburn penitentiary, and thus gave 
impulse to an early reform. 

It was during this administration that the condition of the 
insane in the commonwealth was looked into. In 1827 the 
idea of curing these unfortunates by medical care and treat- 
ment was first entertained by the legislature, and two j-ears 
later an act was passed for the establishment of a State 
Lunatic Hospital. In 1832 the building was completed, and 
the governor issued his proclamation, opening it for public 
use. Popular education was another subject which claimed 
the governor's attention. In his message of the 7th of 
January, 1826, he alluded to the necessity of an institution 
to qualify teachers, and commended his suggestion to " the 
fostering patronage of the legislature." He revived the 
importance of the subject in the following year; and in 
February, 1828, the committee of the legislature on edu- 



THE ERA OF POLITICS. 417 

cation reported a bill providing for the establishment of a 
fund, to be among other things, " appropriated to the endow- 
ment of an institution for the instruction of school teachers 
in each county of the commonwealth." For some reason 
or other this measure was not put into execution, although 
it was never lost sight of until it resulted in a normal school, 
the privileges of which are now enjoyed by the whole com- 
monwealth. 

On the 17th of June, 1825, — the fiftieth anniversary of 
the battle, — was laid the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill 
Monument. The da}^ was very propitious ; and the occasion 
and the presence of General Lafayette — who was at this time 
on a visit to the United States — brought together immense 
crowds of people from all parts of the country. A long 
procession marched from the State House, in Boston, to 
Bunker Hill, where more than twenty thousand people were 
assembled. Daniel Webster was the orator of the occasion, 
and as he spoke, his voice was very clear and full, and his 
manner very commanding. Under the great awning on the 
neighboring hill the dinner was served, and in the evening 
there was a grand reception at Mr. Webster's house.^ 

On the 4th of July, 1826, the jubilee of American Inde- 
pendence was celebrated throughout the United States. In 
Boston, Josiah Quincy delivered the oration in the presence 
of the city authorities. He thus spoke of Mr. John Adams : 
" Especially shall he not be forgotten, now or ever, — that 
ancient citizen of Boston, that patriarch of American inde- 
pendence, of all New England's worthies on this day the 
sole survivor. He, indeed, oppressed by years, sinking under 
the burdens of decaying nature, hears not our public song, 
or voice of praise, or ascending prayer. But the sounds of 

' Ticknor's Reminiscences. 

53 



418 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

a nation's joy, rushing from our cities, ringing from our 
valleys, echoing from our hills, shall break the silence of 
his aged ear ; the rising blessings of grateful millions shall 
visit with a glad light his fading vision, and flush the last 
shades of his evening sky with the reflected splendors of 
his meridian brightness." 

Whilst these words were being spoken the venerable ex- 
President of the United States was still alive; but before the 
rejoicings of the day were over, the news came that he was 
lying dead at Quincy. On the same day died also Thomas 
Jefferson at Monticello. This unparalleled coincidence filled 
the land with a solemn amazement. Commemorative services 
were everywhere held ; but none were more striking than the 
services held in Faneuil Hall, on the 2d of August, when 
Mr. Webster, in the presence of John Quincy Adams, Presi- 
dent of the United States, and of an audience in numbers 
and character worthy of the extraordinary occasion, pro- 
nounced his famous eulogy in commemoration of Adams and 
Jefferson. 

In the autumn of this year Mr. Webster was re-elected 
to Congress for the third time, as the representative of the 
Boston district. He was nominated and voted for by the 
" Republican " party, — a party, which comprehended that 
portion of the old democratic party which supported in 
general the administration of Mr. Adams, and which was 
not merged in the organization then forming for the eleva- 
tion of General Jackson to the presidency. In June of the 
following year, without any regular nomination from any 
quarter, he was elected by the legislature to the senate of 
the United States by a large majority. 

A new presidential election occurred in 1828. By a 
coalition which was effected between the leading; iuflueuces 



THE ERA OF POLITICS. 419 

of the slave states, and those of New York and Pennsylvania, 
Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun, both slaveholders, 
were respectively chosen president and vice president of the 
United States. It was plainly noticeable that persons hold- 
ing opposite opinons on the constitutional powers of the 
government, and on the leading measures of Mr. Adams's 
administration, had united to overthrow it. " It is my* 
opinion," said Webster, in a speech at Faneuil Hall,i " that 
the present government of the United States cannot be main- 
tained but by administering it on principles as wide and 
broad as the country over which it extends. I mean, of 
course, no extension of the powers which it confers ; but I 
speak of the spirit with which those powers should be exer- 
cised. If there be any doubts whether so many republics, 
covering so vast a territory, can be long held together under 
this constitution, there is no doubt, in my judgment, of the 
impossibility of so holding them together by any narrow, 
local, or selfish system of legislation. To render the consti- 
tution 23erpetual (which God grant it may be), it is necessary 
that its benefits should be practically felt by all parts of the 
country. The east and the west, the north and the south, 
must all see their welfare protected and advanced by it. 
While the eastern frontier is defended by fortifications, its 
harbors improved, and commerce protected by a naval 
force, it is right and just that the region beyond the Allegha- 
nies should receive fair consideration and equal attention 
in any object of public improvement interesting to itself, and 
within the proper power of the government." 

Early in the spring of 1833 the whole country was thrown 
into dismay by the attitude of South Carolina. In the pro- 
ceeding year, this state had published an ordinance resisting 

' On the 5th of June. 



420 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the collection of duties imposed by the tariff, and denied 
the authority of the general government to enforce what 
she deemed an unconstitutional law. Undaunted by the 
president's proclamation of warning, South Carolina re- 
solved to maintain her rights as a sovereign state, by organ- 
izing troops, and providing munitions of war ; and intimated 
that if an attempt was made by the general government to 
enforce the collection of such duties, she would exercise her 
right to secede from the Union, and " forthwith proceed to 
organize a separate government." The president remained 
firm, and acted with decision ; the state receded from her 
defiant position, and the storm calmed down. On the 4th 
of March, General Jackson entered upon his second term 
of office, with Martin Van Buren, of New York, as vice 
president. 

Meanwhile a new party had sprung into existence in Mas- 
sachusetts and elsewhere. It was known as the " National 
Republican," and comprehended all those who' were opposed 
to the re-election of General Jackson. In December, 1831, 
the party held a convention at Baltimore, and nominated 
Henry Clay for the presidency. Mr. Clay proved, however, 
to be an unsuccessful candidate. Nevertheless, the party 
which had supported Mr. Clay for the presidency in the 
election of 1832; naturally remained in opposition to his 
successful rival. But the name of the party, never well 
suited to the circumstances of the times, M^as now changed. 
In these circumstances it was felt that in the existing strug- 
gle between the parties actually arrayed against each other, 
and in the principles and doctrines of those who were in 
power, there was a fitness in the revival of a term which 
on both sides of the Atlantic had been historically associated 
with the side of liberty against the side of power. Thus the 



THE ERA OF POLITICS. ' 421 

National Republicans suddenly assumed the name of Whigs, 
with a purpose in view to uphold the proper functions of 
the legislature against executive encroachments. 

In the spring of 1834 Governor Lincoln voluntarily with- 
drew from his high official station, with the universal respect 
and grateful esteem of his fellow-citizens. Having brought 
to his office talents and qualities of a high and varied charac- 
ter, sound judgment, broad and liberal views, a familiarity 
with details, a skill in the adaptation of means to ends, a 
knowledge of men, and an unselfish desire to advance the 
best interests of the commonwealth, Governor Lincoln was 
crowned with a distinguished success throughout his entire 
■ administration. In March, 1834, the Hon. John Davis suc- 
ceeded to the gubernatorial chair. 

Governor Davis, when elected to this position, had never 
before been connected, in an official manner, with the gov- 
ernment of the state. His public life had wholly been 
confined to the national Congress ; and the reputation which 
he had acquired there was the basis of his popularity at 
home. Succeeding, as he did, one of the most popular chief 
magistrates of Massachusetts, the post was a difficult one 
to fill without suffering by comparison. He filled it, how- 
ever, without a diminution in the amount of public regard 
which his predecessor had won. At the time of his election 
no choice was made by the people, but he was elevated to 
his station by a large majority of votes in the legislature. 
From first to last his executive administration was char- 
acterized by a careful and conscientious attention to every 
department of duty, by a strict regard to the constitu- 
tional limitation upon his authority, by a zealous guardian- 
ship of the rights of the state in her relations with the general 
government and her sister states, and by a watchful concern 



422 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

in all her industrial interests, in her educational system, and 
her charitable institutions.^ 

During the administration of Governor Davis occurred 
one of the most dastardly outrages that has ever polluted 
the history of the state. On the night of the 11th of August, 
1834, a mob, variously estimated at from four to ten thou- 
sand persons, assembled around the convent of St. Ursula, 
which stood on Mount Benedict, overlooking the Mystic, 
and set fire to both the convent proper and the surrounding 
out-buildings. The efforts of the firemen proved unavailing, 
and the flames raged until everything combustible was 
consumed. For some time previous the rumor had prevailed 
that Mary St. John Harrison, an inmate of the convent, had 
either been abducted or secreted where she could not be 
found by her friends. This rumor occasioned the most in- 
tense excitement ; and in Charlestown placards were posted, 
announcing that on such a night the convent would be 
burned. Even this failed to arouse the authorities. 

When the mob assembled, the superior of the convent, 
together with the inmates, were ordered to depart from the 
building. There were a dozen nuns, and more than fifty 
scholars, some of them Protestants, and many of them of a 
tender age. With great difficulty they made good their 
escape. Such was the fury of the mob, that not even 
the tomb belonging to the convent was respected, but 
was broken into, and insult offered to the ashes of the 
dead. 

Following this outrage the indignation of the better por- 
tion of the community was aroused. A large meeting of 
the citizens of Boston was held in Faneuil Hall, at which 
the voices of Harrison Gray Otis, and of Josiah Quincy, 

* Trans, of Am. Antiq. Soc, iii. 355. 



THE ERA OF POLITICS. 423 

Jr., were heard. Reprisals from the Catholics were looked 
for ; but, quite unexpectedly, they showed remarkable for- 
bearance. The judicious conduct of Bishop Fenwick allayed 
the exasperation of his flock ; and even Father Taylor, the 
venerable pastor of the seamen, " was listened to with respect- 
ful attention by a large assemblage of Irish Catholics, who 
had gathered in the immediate neighborhood of their church 
in Franklin Street, Boston, on the same occasion." Many 
arrests were made, and several of the rioters were convicted 
and punished. Neither on the part of Chief Justice Shaw, 
nor of the governor, was any effort spared to bring the 
offenders to justice, and to vindicate the good name of the 
commonwealth. 

In Massachusetts the party which supported the adminis- 
tration of General Jackson, and which now became known 
as the Democratic Part}^, had never been very strong. As 
the time for a new presidential election approached, the 
whigs, who constituted the opposition, began to look about 
them for a suitable candidate. In point of numbers and in 
weight of character the whigs were the strongest in the 
state legislature ; the democrats were in a feeble minority ; 
and the third party of Anti-Masonry, were likewise of 
inferior importance. In February, 1835, the whigs nomi- 
nated Mr. Webster for the presidency. Elsewhere men of 
entire honesty of purpose, and of great respectability, ar- 
dently desired to make Mr. Webster president of the United 
States. But they could not content themselves with the 
sufficiency of his character as a statesman, and thought it 
necessary to press him on the point of masonry. 

Mr. Webster well knew that without a co-operation of 
the whig and the anti-masonic elements he could never be 
elected to the station, which he much desu*ed to attain. His 



424 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

whig friends regarded all the excitement on the subject of 
masonry as eminently unnecessary ; while on the other 
hand, his anti-masonic friends, whose private communica- 
tions revealed to him the desire to have him made the can- 
didate of their party, did not perceive that they exacted 
from him a pledge which it would have been unbecoming 
in him to give. Mr. Webster — and his answer furnishes 
the means of determining not only his character but also his 
rank as a statesman and a patriot — did not hesitate to say 
to the latter, that he regarded " secret societies, the members 
of which take upon themselves extraordinary obligations, 
and are bound together by secret oaths, as objectionable ; 
and he commended highly the sentiment which the anti- 
masons had adopted, of the supremacy of the laws." ^ 
But he refused to define the duty of a chief magistrate in 
making appointments to office ; or, in other words, to say to 
his correspondents that, if elected, he would appoint none 
but anti-masons to office. This, in fact, was what he was 
desired to say. 

When the time for the general election drew near, it was 
understood in Massachusetts that a great majority of its 
citizens demanded the choice of presidential electors who 
would cast "the vote of the state for Mr. Webster ; although 
the want of co-operation elsewhere, arising from the imperfect 
organization of the whig party, rendered it impossible that 
he should be chosen. After a bitter contest, Martin Van 
Buren, who had been vice president under General Jackson, 
was elected president of the United States. 

In March, 1835, Governor Davis was elected to the Senate 
of the United States, and, through the remainder of his term, 

' Curtis, Life of Webster, i. 509. 



THE ERA OF POLITICS. 425 

Samuel T. Armstrong, the lieutenant governor, performed 
the duties of the executive. In the autumn of 1835 the 
Hon. Edward Everett was nominated as chief magistrate by 
a whig convention held in Boston, and was elected by a 
majority of upward of eleven thousand votes. 
54 



426 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



* CHAPTER XXII. 
THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 

It was a most felicitous concurrence of events that raised 
Edward Everett to the executive chair of Massachusetts. 
He was a ripe and accurate scholar, a man of large attain- 
ments, a brilliant orator, and not an inferior statesman. 
Born in 1794, and graduated from Harvard College in 1811, 
he was chosen to Congress by the young men in Middlesex 
in 1825, and from the very first became an earnest supporter 
of the administration of John Quincy Adams. He remained 
in Congress until 1835, the year in which he was chosen to 
the governorship. 

Governor Everett's official term was a period of unusual 
interest in the history of the state. Foremost among the 
achievements during his administration was the establish- 
ing of a school system upon a better and more fruitful 
foundation than had hitherto been reached. In 1835, the 
Rev. Charles Brooks, of Medford, delivered a course of 
lectures on the Prussian system of State Normal Schools, 
in the town of Hingham. " The whole Prussian system," 
he said, " is built on these eight words, — As is the Teacher, 
so is the School ; — and therefore we must have seminaries 
for the preparation of teachers, and I hope the first one 
will be in Plymouth county. From what I have learned, 
it is now my opinion that the Prussian system is to make 
a new era in the public elementary education of the United 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 427 

States." In the following year the Rev. Mr. Brooks lec- 
tured in other parts of the state, and sought to establish 
the theory that there was need of a normal school, owned, 
supported, and governed by the state for the state's service. 

Meanwhile a writer — and a graduate of Harvard Col- 
lege — had published an article in the " Boston Daily Adver- 
tiser," at that time the leading newspaper in New England, 
in which he facetiously ridiculed the idea of normal schools, 
and represented Mr. Brooks with a fool's cap on his head, 
inarching up State Street, in Boston, at the head of a crowd 
of ragamuffin young men and women, who bore a banner with 
this inscription : " To a Normal School in the clouds." But 
such classic raillery passed for nothing, and the writer of the 
article survived long enough to discern a proof of his abys- 
mal ignorance. The intelligent men and women in Plym- 
outh county awakened to a sense of the importance of the 
subject, and in conventions assembled passed resolutions 
deploring the low state of the public schools, expressing 
a readiness for reform, and declaring, in favor of the Prus- 
sian model, that the surplus revenues should be used to 
advance the cause of education. 

At the beginning of the new year Governor Everett 
asked, " Whether the creation of a Board of Commissioners 
of Schools, to serve without salary, with authority to ap- 
point a secretary, on a reasonable compensation, to be paid 
from the school fund, would not be of great utility?" On 
the 10th of January the House of Representatives requested 
to be instructed on the subject of normal schools, and to 
Mr. Brooks the committee on education extended a patient 
hearing. A Plymouth county convention, held at Halifax 
on the 24th of January^ voted to petition the legislature 
for normal schools. In the American Institute, Mr. Ichabod 



428 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Morton offered a resolution to petition for the same object. 
Mr. George B. Emerson prepared the petition, which, for 
comprehension of thought, force of statement, truth of rea- 
soning, and persuasiveness of spirit, could not be surpassed. 
It need scarcely be said that by so doing, Mr. Emerson laid 
all future generations under obligations to his personal labors 
as a teacher, and to his pen, as a philosopher and Chris- 
tian. One month later the Rev. Dr. Channing, in a public 
address, said, " We need an institution for the formation 
of better teachers; and, until this step is taken, we can 
make no important progress. An institution for training 
men to train the young would be a fountain of living 
waters, sending forth streams to refresh present and future 
ages. We trust that our legislators will not always prove 
blind to the highest interests of the state." 

What had already been done carried conviction to every 
reasoning mind. Early in the spring a vote of the legis- 
lature established the Board of Education. On the 20th 
of April it was approved by the governor, and on the 29th 
of June it was organized. A few days later the Hon. 
Horace Mann laid down his law books, and became the 
first secretary of the Board. Not a man in the common- 
wealth could have planned more wisely or executed his 
duties more successfully. The record of his labors Avill 
be his everlasting monument. After providing for several 
county conventions, the Board of Education instituted a 
course of lectures to be delivered by different gentlemen 
in the House of Representatives. On the 25th of January, 
1838, the Rev. Mr. Brooks spoke on " Normal Schools and 
school reform." Eight days later Governor Everett, who 
wrote the first annual report of the Board of Education, 
recommended that the legislature should establish normal 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 429 

schools. The Hon. Edmund Dwight gave ten thousand 
dollars for the purpose, and on the 19th of April the legis- 
lature accepted this munificent gift, and established the first 
State Normal School — at Lexington — on this continent.^ 

On the 15th of March, 1833, the persons who were then 
directors of the Boston and Worcester Railroad Company, 
were individually incorporated as " The Western Railroad 
Corporation," with authority to construct a railroad from 
the Boston and Worcester Railroad in Worcester, to Con- 
necticut River in Springfield, and thence across it to the 
western boundary of the state, in a direction toward the 
Hudson River. The capital was to consist of not less 
than ten thousand, nor more than twenty thousand, shares, 
of one hundred dollars each. 

The most unwearied exertions were made to procure the 
necessary subscriptions, and meetings were held in all the 
towns on the route of the road, and the citizens urgently 
appealed to. It had been agreed that the corporation should 
not be organized until two millions were subscribed by re- 
sponsible parties, and that the construction of the road 
should not be commenced until the sum of ten dollars per 
share should be assessed and paid in on each share. People 
generally soon began to doubt the productiveness of the 
stock, and were slow to lend their aid. On the 13th of 
August, 1835, the directors of the Boston and Worcester 
company closed their books, — at which time seven thousand 
shares were wanting. As a last resort, it was determined to 
call a large mass meeting in Faneuil Hall, Boston, and such 
a meeting was held on the evening of the 7th of October. 
The Hon. Abbott Lawrence was appointed chairman, and 
the packed audience was addressed by some of the ablest 

* This school was afterwards removed to Framingham. 



430 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

speakers of the day. At this meeting a committee of six 
at h\rge, and three for each ward in Boston and South 
Boston, was appointed to solicit further subscriptions. By 
the efforts of this and of other committees, the required 
amount was obtained by December 5, 1835, with sufficient 
surplus for losses and contingencies. On the 4th of the 
month following, the Western Railroad Corporation was duly 
organized. 

Three days later Governor Everett, in his message to 
the legislature, said, "It is a matter of congratulation that 
the subscription to the capital stock to the amount of two 
millions of dollars has been filled J' He added, " Should 
the work, in its progress, stand in need of resources be- 
yond the reach of the enterprise and means of the indi- 
vidual citizens by whom it is undertaken, it is believed 
that the public patronage could be safely extended to it, 
as a project of vast general utility, whose successful exe- 
cution would form an era in the prosperity of the state." 

At the meeting of the stockholders for organization, the 
directors were instructed to apply to the legislature for 
aid in the construction of the road. The petition was 
drawn up and presented on the 16th of January. At 
the same session of the legislature was presented a memo- 
rial, signed by a large committee of the citizens of Bos- 
ton, praying for the establishment of a bank, with a capital 
of ten millions. This and similar memorials from various 
parts of the state were referred to the committee on banks ; 
and in the following March " An act to establish the State 
Bank of Massachusetts " was reported in the House. The 
main features of this act were : "A capital of ten millions, 
half the stock to be subscribed and owned by the state, 
and paid in. in gold and silver, or state scrip, at four and 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 431 

one half per cent, interest, to run twenty years. For the 
remaining half, books to be opened for subscription in each 
county of the state. If a surplus was subscribed, the largest 
subscriptions to be reduced, &c. No bills under five dol- 
lars to be issued, and a branch might be established in each 
county in the state, the county voting for the same, and 
fixing its location. The tenth section required the direc- 
tors to subscribe for ten thousand shares in the Western 
Railroad Corporation, and to pay all assessments on the same, 
— the bank to retain one half the bank tax on its capital, 
or twenty-five thousand dollars semi-annually, and the re- 
ceipts and income on the stock in the road, — until the 
said tax and receipts should reimburse them for payments 
of the assessments." 

Such a monster bank found no favor in the democratic 
party, but the large mass of business men were clamorous 
for an incriease of bank capital on the withdrawal of the 
United States Bank. On the 26th of March, a special 
committee reported to the legislature a bill directing the 
state treasurer to subscribe one million dollars to the stock 
of the Western Railroad Corporation, and pay all assess- 
ments thereon, and providing that three of the nine di- 
rectors of the road should be chosen by the legislature. 
On the •28th, the bill passed the House, was then received 
and passed by the Senate, and was signed by the gov- 
ernor on the 4th of April. On the 30th of March, the bank 
bill was rejected ; but, upon being reconsidered the next 
da}^, it was indefinitely postponed on the motion of Mr. 
Lawrence, who had reported it. 

It was during Governor Everett's administration that the 
question of slavery began to be very seriously and openly 
discussed. During the years of 1834-35, the proceedings of 



432 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the New England Anti-Slavery Society, which had recently 
assumed the name of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery So- 
ciety, were conducted on a more extended scale. On the 
25th of January, 1837, this society assembled for the first 
time, in the hall of the House of Representatives, and elo- 
quent speeches were made in favor of the abolition of 
slavery and of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. 
The flame thus kindled was not soon to be extinguished. 
At the sixth anniversary meeting of the society, in 1838, 
Mr. Edmund Quincy submitted a resolution, acknowledging 
the high degree in which the anti-slavery cause had pros- 
pered in the preceding year, and " the bright ray of promise 
which assures us that the beams of the Sun of Righteous- 
ness will not forever be obscured by the mists which rise 
from a sensual and mercenary world." A few weeks later 
the legislature adopted resolutions against the admission of 
Texas ; against the admission of any more slave states ; in 
favor of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the 
District of Columbia, and the prohibition of slavery in the 
territories. Meanwhile Wendell Phillips had raised his voice 
against the annexation of Texas, and Angelina E. Grimke, 
the first lady ever permitted to address a legislative com- 
mittee in the commonwealth, had invoked the action of the 
legislature toward the same end. 

On the 7th of November, 1837, the Rev. Elijah Lovejoy 
was murdered by a mob at Alton, Illinois. The tidings 
of this startling tragedy swept over the country like wild- 
fire, everywhere spreading alarm, and fixing the attention 
of thoughtful people. The enemies of slavery received 
the news with profound sorrow. On the 8th of December, 
Faneuil Hall was filled to overflowing with the citizens of 
Boston and vicinity. Dr. Channiug made an impressive 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 433 

appeal, and offered a series of resolutions. He was fol- 
lowed by James T. Austin, the attorney-general of the 
commonwealth. This adroit caucus speaker compared the 
murderers of Lovejoy with the men who destroyed the tea 
in Boston harbor, and, having pronounced a most disgrace- 
ful harangue, retired amid the plaudits of the riotous element 
of the meeting. Mr. Phillips then arose. "When I heard," 
said he, " the gentleman lay down principles which placed 
the murderers of Alton side by side with Otis and Hancock, 
with Quincy and Adams, I thought those pictured lips " — 
pointing to their portraits in the hall — " would have broken 
into voice to rebuke the recreant American, the slanderer 
of the dead. Sir, for the sentiments he has uttered, on 
soil consecrated by the prayers of the Puritans and the 
blood of patriots, the earth should have yawned and 
swallowed him up." At this point the wildest confusion 
ensued, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the 
speaker's voice could be heard. Mr. Phillips firmly declared 
that he would not retract what he had said, and closed his 
speech by remarking that, "when liberty was in danger, 
Faneuil Hall had the right, and it was her duty, to strike 
the key-note for the Union ; that the passage of the reso- 
lutions, in spite of the opposition, led by the attorney-gen- 
eral, will show more decidedly the deep indignation with 
which Boston regards this outrage." 

By this sublime effort Mr. Phillips placed himself among 
the foremost of American orators ; and upon that very day. 
he consecrated himself to the defence of human rights, and 
took that hazardous position which he subsequently main- 
tained. Nor was Phillips the only champion of the cause. 
Others there were, and, in the days to come, history will 
point with more than common pride to the names of William 
55 



434 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Lloyd Garrison, Amos A. Phelps, Edmund Quinc}^ William 
Ellery Channing, and of a score of others, as the few brave 
souls who dared to assert the justice of freedom, and to 
strike the key-note for the Union. 

The last year of Jackson's administration appeared to 
be one of great national prosperity. Two years before, the 
public debt had been cancelled, and a surplus remained 
in the treasury of nearly forty millions of dollars. The 
state banks, in which the deposits had been placed, loaned 
money freely, and other banks sprang into existence, until 
their number reached to seven hundred and fifty. The 
notes with which they flooded the country gave a fictitious 
value to everything that was bought and sold. The wild- 
est schemes of speculation were set afloat, and the sales 
of the public lands alone amounted to millions in a month. 
In order to restrain the sale of public lands. President Jack- 
son had issued, through the treasury department, an order 
known as the " Specie Circular," requiring the collectors 
at the office to receive only gold and silver in payments 
for land ; and six months later, Congress, by law, dis- 
tributed the government funds among the states, on de- 
posit in the banks. To meet such a demand, the loans 
were called in ; and the specie circular arrested the circu- 
lation of the bank notes, and brought them back to their 
counters to be exchanged for gold and silver. 

Six months after this distribution the business of the 
whole country was prostrated. The financial storm of 1837 
was one of the most disastrous that had ever been known. 
Over the entire land it winged its fearful course, visiting 
Massachusetts, and particularly Boston, and sparing no com- 
mercial community. Improvements of all kinds ceased ; 
thousands of laboring men were thrown out of employ- 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 435 

merit. All of the banks had suspended specie payment. 
Such was the condition of affairs, that the importers had 
neither gold nor silver to pay duties, and the government 
itself was deprived of the means to defray its current ex- 
penses. Congress assembled in September ; but the presi- 
dent had no suggestions to offer, and appeared to be in 
favor of the people taking care of themselves. 

During this year a scandalous occurrence took place in 
Boston, in the payment, by the local disbursing officers 
of the United States, of pensions and fishing bounties in 
the bills of a bank — the Commonwealth — which was on 
the eve of failure. By this meretricious proceeding hun- 
dreds of people were defrauded of their all. On the 17th 
of January, 1838, Mr. Webster brought this disgraceful aifair 
before the Senate. Upon this occasion, he pointed out that, 
" while the general paper currency of the country was left 
depreciated and deranged for the want of some regulating 
and restraining power, the establishment of an exclusive 
system of gold and silver for government use could not 
secure safety to the government or its creditors ; for, in 
spite of the provisions of law, the disbursing agents of 
the government will always be tempted to offer, and the 
creditors be made to accept, paper which passes for money in 
the particular locality, and which is exposed at all times 
to the hazard of falling dead in the hands of its holders. 
He held the scheme of one kind of currency for the gov- 
ernment and another for the people to be both imprac- 
ticable and dangerous." ^ 

On the 17th of September, 1836, Harvard College cele- 
brated her second centennial anniversary. It was an oc- 
casion of peculiar interest for all of her sons, and the 

' Life of Webster, j. 575. Works, iv. 377, seq. 



4'36 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

festivities were remarkably brilliant and successful. Up- 
wards of fifteen hundred graduates and their friends, from 
all parts of the country, assembled in Cambridge on that 
day. President Quincy delivered the address in the church, 
and at the dinner, which was served under a large pavilion. 
Governor Everett presided in an admirable manner. In 
the evening the college yard and halls were illuminated, 
and a reception was given at the president's house, which 
was attended by a host of distinguished strangers who had 
been called together by the anniversary. The day was 
one never to be forgotten by such as had the good fortune 
to be present. 

In the election of 1839, the Democrats carried the day, 
and the Hon. Marcus Morton, their candidate, was chosen 
to the office of chief magistrate. Mr. Everett lost his re- 
election by a single vote, much to the sorrow of his friends 
and supporters. Mr. Everett was one of the most success- 
ful governors of the commonwealth. As the education of 
the- people was the central idea of his life, so did he always 
seek to encourage every movement which had for its object 
the elevation of the people and the internal improvement 
of the state. It was at his suggestion that the Statute Laws 
of the state were revised, and that, in 1838, the agricul- 
tural, zoological, and geological surveys of the state were 
made. 

In his inaugural message to the legislature. Governor 
Morton reviewed the industrial, educational, and financial 
condition of the state, and urged a rigorous retrenchment 
of expenses in all departments of public interest. The 
legislature acted fully in accordance with this policy, and 
sought to practise economy to the detriment of some of 
the better interests of the commonwealth. The committee 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 437 

on education were instructed to inquire into the expediency 
of continuing the Board of Education and normal schools ; 
and, acting on the recommendation of this committee, the 
House, in March, passed an act abolishing the Board of 
Education. This act was rejected by the Senate, however, 
and was refused by the governor. In the meantime certain 
members of the committee on education presented a minority 
report on the subject. The wisdom of this report undoubt- 
edly saved the state from disgrace. " Whatever objections " 
— such were its closing words — "any one miglit have 
had to the establishment of the Board and the normal 
schools originally, yet since they ha-ve been created, and 
organized, it seems but right that they should have a fair 
trial. Let the experiment be tried, and not broken off as 
soon as begun. It has not yet had that trial. A change in 
public sentiment cannot be effected at once. Any new prop- 
osition, however valuable, may meet with opposition at first. 
If the Board and normal schools are abolished now, they 
cannot be said to have failed. They wiU have fallen pre- 
maturely by the hand which should have sustained them. 
Men who desire to see the whole people educated in the 
manner that the citizens of a free republic ought to be, 
that rational and immortal beings . ought to be, will not 
be satisfied until measures which they deem important to 
effect their favorite object have been fairly tested." 

Mr. Morton failed of re-election in 1840, and was suc- 
ceeded in the executive chair by the Hon. John Davis. 
During Governor Davis's administration the old partisan 
strife was continued, while the vigor and earnestness of 
the abolitionists were unabated. The great political strug- 
gle of this year resulted in the triumph of the whig party, 
not only in Massachusetts, but in many other states of the 



438 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Union. The whigs secured William Henry Harrison as the 
executive of the nation, and large majorities in both houses 
of Congress. But the cause of freedom gained little by the 
change. 

In the autumn of 1842, George Latimer, a native of Vir- 
ginia, was arrested in Boston without a warrant, and claimed 
as a slave. The case was brought before the courts, where 
Chief Justice Shaw ruled that " the statute of the United 
States authorized the owner of the fugitive to arrest him 
in any state to which he might have fled." Pending further 
action, Latimer remained in Boston jail. As soon as tidings 
of this proceeding were spread abroad, the greatest ex- 
citement prevailed. On the 30th of October — a Sabbath 
evening — a large body of citizens met in Faneuil Hall. 
Speeches were made, and resolutions were presented, protest- 
ing, " by all the glorious memories of the revolutionary 
struggle, in the names of justice, liberty, and right, in the 
awful name of God, against the deliverance of George Lati- 
mer into the hands of his pursuers." Letters also were 
read from John Quincy Adams, George Bancroft, Samuel 
Hoar, William B. Calhoun, and others. Amid hisses and 
uproar, Wendell Phillips sought to speak. " When I look," 
he said, " upon these crowded thousands, and see them 
trample on their consciences and the rights of their fellow- 
men at the bidding of a piece of parchment, I say, ' My 
curse be upon the constitution of these United States.' " 

A few days later, a petition 'signed by many influential 
citizens was presented to the sheriff, demanding the dis- 
missal of the jailer. At the^ same time, another petition 
was prepared requesting Governor Davis to dismiss the 
sheriff unless he removed the jailer. Then it was that 
the Rev. Nathaniel Colver agreed to pay the sum of four 








THK STATE NORMAL SCHOOI,, IIRIDGEWATER. 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 439 

hundred dollars " on the delivery of free papers, and the 
surrender of the power of attorney to reclaim his wife." 
The offer was accepted, and Latimer was released. 

The excitement, however, did not end here. A con- 
vention was held, and a petition was presented to the legis- 
lature, praying that body to " forbid all persons holding 
office under the laws of the state from aiding in the arrest 
or detention of persons claimed as fugitives from slavery ; 
to forbid the use of jails, or other public property, for their 
detention ; and to prepare amendments to the federal con- 
stitution that should forever separate the people of the 
state from all connection with slavery." Subsequently, cer- 
tain resolves of the legislature of Massachusetts, proposing 
to Congress to recommend, according to the provisions of 
the fifth article of the constitution of the United States, 
an amendment to the said constitution, \x\ effect abolishing 
the representation for slaves, and signed by fifty thousand 
of the citizens of the state, were laid upon the desk of 
John Quincy Adams. The resolutions were presented to 
the House on the 21st of December, 1843. A great sen- 
sation resulted in the hall. Said Henry A. Wise, of Vir- 
ginia, " I saj^ solemnly before God, as a southern man, 
that we are worsted in this fight. From this day forth 
and forever I withdraw from the fight. I say to my con- 
stituents, that the way this battle has been fought, there 
is no hope for your rights. Your interests are doomed to 
be destroyed." 

Mr. Adams was calm and dignified. He wished the mem- 
bers to remember that these were the resolutions of the 
democratic legislature of Massachusetts, and, as for him- 
self, although he was not an aboHtionist, in the sense of 
any abolition society he was acquainted with, he believed, 



440 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

with Jefferson, that the God of nature had decreed the 
freedom of the slaves, and the sooner it came the better. 
When the resolutions of Massachusetts were referred to 
the House, that body rejected them. In the Senate they 
were not only rejected, but denounced in the most unspar- 
ing terms. They were characterized as " seditious, incen- 
diary, and revolutionary." ^ 

For many years two important questions of controversy 
between the United States government and that of Great 
Britain had remained unadjusted. One growing out of cer- 
tain revolutionary disturbances along the Canada borders, 
and the other in relation to the north-eastern boundary, 
between the State of Maine and the British province of 
New Brunswick. Soon after entering upon his duties as 
secretary of state, Mr. Webster, with the sanction of the 
president, intimated to the British minister at Washington, 
that the government of the United States was desirous of 
arranging the boundar}'- dispute, by agreeing on a line, by 
compromise or convention. With full powers to settle the 
controversy, the British government deputed Lord Ashbur- 
ton as special minister to the United States. 

In this case, the interests of two states — Maine and 
Massachusetts — were involved ; for in the disputed ter- 
ritory lay a large tract of land, the soil of which was 
claimed by these states, and in addition to this, Massachu- 
setts claimed the political jurisdiction. On the 3d of March, 
1842, in anticipation of the arrival of Bord Ashburton, the 
legislature of Massachusetts adopted resolutions, declaring 
that the boundary line could be easily traced in accordance 
with the treaty of 1783 ; that Massachusetts had a joint 
interest with the State of Maine in the proposed negotia- 

' Wilson, Else and Fall, ii. 470-487. Quincy, Life of J. Q. Adams, 409 seq. 










DANIEL WEBSTER. 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 44I 

tions, and would take all needful steps to secure her rights, 
and that no compromise could be made without the assent 
of the two states. Lord Ashburton arrived in Washing- 
ton on the 4th of April, and on the 11th, Mr. Webster 
officially informed the governors of Maine and Massachu- 
setts of his arrival, and suggested to them the appointment 
of commissioners for the purpose of assenting to the line 
that might be agreed upon. Governor Davis, in reply, 
signified that the commissioners would probably be ap- 
pointed, and that the state was ready to make any reason- 
able concessions to the convenience of Great Britain, " but 
nothing — not a rood of barren heath or rock — to un- 
founded claims." 

Commissioners of the two states were appointed, and in 
June they arrived in Washington. Negotiations were at 
once commenced, and a treaty was concluded. The United 
States obtained the navigation of the St. John's River to 
its mouth, and the very important military position, Rouse's 
Point, at the outlet of Lake Champlain. Great Britain 
received, in exchange, a small territory of swamps, heath, 
and rocks, and barren mountains, covered with snow the 
greater part of the year, — a territory valuable only be- 
cause it enabled her to make a direct road from the province 
of New Brunswick to the St. Lawrence. 

On the 17th of September, 1842, the whigs of Massa- 
chusetts held a convention of delegates in Boston for the 
p'urpose of selecting candidates for the state offices. This 
body adopted several resolutions, one of which, after re- 
citing the offences of President Tyler against the whig 
party, concluded thus : " That by these acts, through which 
he has compelled the whigs to leave the country suffer- 
ing under the evils inflicted upon it by his predecessor 
56 



442 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

in office, he has left no alternative to the whigs of Massa- 
chusetts but to declare, as they do now declare, their full 
and final separation from him." On the 30th of Septem- 
ber, Mr. Webster addressed the people in Fane nil Hall 
on the questions of the day, and particularly with ref- 
erence to his own relations to the country and the party 
to which he belonged. In ar plain, perspicuous manner, 
he rebuked the whig policy, and exposed the folly of widen- 
ing the breach between Congress and the president. Such 
a rebuke was deserved ; for, in direct disregard of Mr. 
Webster's claims, the convention of the 17th of Septem- 
ber had , committed the whig party of the state to the 
nomination of Mr. Clay by the next national convention. 
Mr. Clay's friends could now say that the whigs of Massa- 
chusetts had decided against Mr. Webster, and thus laid 
the foundation for an opposition to Mr. Webster in the ranks 
of his own party. 

In January, 1843, the Hon. Marcus Morton again took 
his seat as governor of the commonwealth. On the 8th 
of May, Mr. Webster resigned his office as secretary of state. 
The 'relations which had sprung up between President Tyler 
and some members of the democratic party, from the con- 
tinued assaults made by him upon the whigs, had come 
to render Mr. Webster's position in the cabinet distaste- 
ful. Scarcely had Mr. Webster sought retirement in his 
home in Marshfield, when the whigs began to see that 
they had made a great political mistake in giving the 
voice of the party in Massachusetts to Mr. Clay as their 
candidate for the presidency, in advalice of the assem- 
bling of a national convention. A large majority of the 
party were anxious to have Mr. Webster reappear upon 
the political stage ; and in accordance with such a wish, 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 443 

they requested him to be present at a whig convention 
that was to be held at Andover on the 9th of November. 

At the appointed time the convention met, and Mr. 
Webster was on hand, ready to vindicate his personal title 
to be regarded as a whig. In the course of his speech 
at Andover Mr. Webster remarked, " Gentlemen, I thought 
I saw an opportunity of doing the state some service, and 
I ran the risk of the undertaking. I certainly do not regret 
it, and never shall regret it. And it is in no spirit of 
boasting or vainglory, it is from no undue feehng of self- 
respect, that I say now, that I am ready to leave it to 
the public judgment to decide whether my remaining in 
the cabinet was best for the country, or, on the other hand, 
whether my leaving it would have been better for the 
country. On this question I am in the judgment of this 
generation and the next generation, and am willing that 
my name, and fame, and character shall abide the result." 

In the fall election of this year George N. Briggs was 
chosen governor of Massachusetts by the then dominant 
party — the whigs. Never went a citizen of a free and 
prosperous commonwealth up from his coveted retirernent 
to an uncoveted seat of authority, with less ambition for 
self-aggrandizement and larger aspirations for the popular 
weal, than did he in obeying the. voice of Massachusetts, 
bidding him administer her laws, and preside over her 
material and moral interests. Governor Briggs was ush- 
ered into ofSce in January, 1844. Of his official messages 
and acts, during his first term, there were none requiring 
special note. 

In August of this year was celebrated the " Berkshire 
Jubilee." It was a reunion of the sons and daughters of 
that most beautiful region, — the Piedmont of America, 



444 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

— a region where hill and valley, lake and streamlet, 
alternate their charms with endless succession, and scarcely 
less variety. The jubilee was celebrated with song, and 
speech, and sermon. To Pittsfield, poets and philosophers, 
and divines and merchant princes, brought their tribute, and 
all the village held high holiday. Governor Briggs presided 
at the festival, and made a most felicitous address. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes read a poem full of humor and good cheer, 
and the feasting and music were "forever memorable." 

The election of James K. Polk to the presidency, in the 
autumn of 1844, and the annexation of Texas, largely encour- 
aged and strengthened the pro-slavery party both in the north 
and in the south. Many members of the whig party were 
depressed in spirit, and began to doubt the expediency of 
any further contest. The sentiment of Massachusetts was 
always opposed to slavery. True, this profession was not 
always directly expressed ; but then the opinion generally 
prevailed that the anti-slavery cause was one absolutely 
righteous, and that it would eventually receive its vindica- 
tion. Already it was apparent that the general government 
was under the control of slavery, and that the democratic 
party, who alone were responsible for the administration 
and its policy, w^ould be compelled either to sustain or 
to dissolve it. Thus it happened that alternatives were 
left open to the whig party, namely, to go counter to 
slavery, make a direct issue, and attract to its banner the 
spirit of freedom, of progress, and of the nineteenth century ; 
or fall back upon the ideas of the dark ages, and run a race 
with democracy for influence and co-operation. It was at 
this point that the so called " Liberty party " arose, — a party 
based on the idea that " any effective opposition to slavery 
politically must come from the disintegration of the old 



. THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 445 

parties, and the combination of their material into the new- 
organization." 

Political strife mounted high at this period ; and notwith- 
stancnng that the popularity of the governor was almost 
universal, the issue of the election hung in doubt. When 
it was over, and the incumbent returned triumphantly to his 
chair, Governor Briggs thus wrote : " The election is over, 
and for the old Bay State, well over. Boston has outdone 
herself. With the difficulties she had to encounter, I think 
she has achieved a more remarkable victory than ever before. 
All eyes were turned toward her, from Texas to the St. 
John's. She is Boston' still, and Massachusetts is Massachu- 
setts still. The result shows a triumph of principle. In 
this she has covered herself with honor. Let justice, stabil- 
ity, and truth be her motto, and no matter how humble 
those she puts forward, she will prevail." ^ 

At the beginning of the session of 1846, Governor Briggs 
laid before the legislature certain resolutions concerning 
slavery and the action of Massachusetts, which had been 
adopted by the state legislature of Georgia. Henry Wilson, 
of Natick, moved that these resolutions might be referred to 
a special committee, and offered an order that they " be 
instructed to report a preamble and resolution which should 
express in fitting terms the hostility of Massachusetts to the 
institution of slavery." This motion gave rise to great 
excitement in the hall ; and the order was vehemently 
opposed both by the whigs and the democrats. At length 
a compromise, in the shape of an amendment, was tendered, 
and the committee were left to act wdthout instructions. 

In defending the order which he had offered, Mr. Wilson 
affirmed that " we must destroy slavery, or slavery will 

^ Letter to his son-in-law, 13 Nov., 1845. 



446 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

destroy liberty. We must restore our government to its 
original and pristine purity. The contest is a glorious one. 
Let us be cheered by the fact that the bold and daring effort 
of. the slave power to arrest the progress of free priAiples 
has awakened and aroused the nation. That power has 
won a briliant victory in the acquisition of Texas ; yet it 
is onl}' one victory, in its long series, over the constitution 
and liberties of the country. Other fields are yet to be 
fought ; and if we are true to the country, freedom, and to 
humanity, the future has yet a Waterloo in store for the 
supporters of this unholy system." For himself, Mr. Wilson 
was ready to act with any man or party — whig, democrat, 
Abolitionist, Christian, or infidel - — who would go for the 
cause of emancipation.^ 

The report of the committee was evasive and mild, as 
might well have been anticipated ; and Mr. Wilson was com- 
pelled to make a minority report, which created a profound 
sensation in the House and in the Senate. It closed with the 
declaration, that the experience of sixty years afforded ample 
evidence that only by an adherence far more stern than that 
of our fathers to the principles of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, and a use far more vigorous than theirs of all the 
powers of self-preservation and defence, which the constitu- 
tion has secured to the freemen of the Union, will the Union 
and our liberties be preserved, and with them the hopes of 
the race for long years to come. 

On the 11th of May, 1845, Congress voted that " by the 
act of the Republic of Mexico, war exists between that 
government and the United States." The Mexican war 
was regarded by many, especially in the Northern States, 
as a great calamity, and the whigs openly declared that the 

' Mann, Life of Wilson, 27. 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 447 

war was really not begun by Mexico, but by General Tajdor. 
Congress also voted ten million dollars for the war, and 
resolved to raise fifty thousand volunteers. The Eastern 
States furnished only a very small force, for the reason that 
they cherished not much sjnnpathy for the impending struo-- 
gle. It was about this time that Charles Sumner, a graduate 
of Harvard College, and a promising Boston lawyer, was 
lifted prominently into public notice. He had already allied 
himself with the champions of freedom, and like Garrison, 
and a few others, had well nigh forfeited political caste, and 
was branded as an agitator and an abolitionist. Still, Mr. 
Sumner was no revolutionist, and hoped to meet the com- 
manding question of slavery on constitutional grounds alone. 
In the autumn of 1846, he sharply criticised the course 
of Robert C. Winthrop in respect to the Mexican war. 
" Through you," he said, " the Bostonians have been made 
to declare an unjust and cowardly war with falsehood in 
the cause of slavery. Through you they have keen made 
partakers in the blockade of Vera Cruz, in the seizure of 
California, in the capture of Santa Fe, in the bloodshed of 
Monterey. It were idle to suppose that the poor soldier, or 
officer only, is stained by this guilt. It reaches far back, and 
incarnadines the halls of Congress ; nay more, through you 
it reddens the hands of your constituents in Boston." In 
January, 1847, Mr. Sumner, before the Supreme Court of 
Massachusetts, argued against the validity of enlistments in 
the regiment of volunteers raised by the state for the war ; 
and on the 4th of February he spoke in Faneuil Hall, 
demanding the withdrawal of the American troops from 
Mexican soil. " The war," he said, " is not only unconsti- 
tutional, it is unjust; it is vile in its object and character. It 
has its origin in a well known series of measures to extend 



448 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and perpetuate slavery. It is a war which must ever be 
odious in history, beyond the common measure allotted to 
the outrages of brutality which disfigure other nations and 
times. It is a slave-driving war. In its principle, it is only 
a little above those miserable conflicts between the barbarian 
chiefs of Central Africa to obtain slaves for the inhuman 
markets of Brazil. Such a war must be accursed in the sight 
of God. Why is it not accursed in the sight of man ? " 

During these years the cause of public education was 
steadily fostered by Governor Briggs, — this partly from 
its intrinsic importance, and partly because public attention 
was at that time strongly concentrated upon it. On the 
interesting occasion of the inauguration of the State Normal 
School at Westfield, in the month of September, 1846, he 
was the orator ; and his catholic mind grasped the great 
theory of education, from the lowest to the highest arenas, 
and made clear the controlling value of the mainspring of 
all its wofkings. In the first report of the Board of Educa- 
tion to the legislature, which he signed as chairman, the 
principle which underlies the whole system of common- 
school education is thus stated : — 

" The cardinal principle which lies at the foundation of 
our educational system is, that all the children of the state 
shall be educated by the state. As our republican govern-' 
ment was founded upon the virtue and intelligence of the 
people, it was rightly concluded by its framers, that without 
a wise educational system, the government itself could not 
exist, and in ordaining that the expenses of educating the 
people should be defrayed by the people at large, without 
reference to the particular benefit to individuals, it was 
considered that those who, perhaps without children of their 
own, nevertheless, would be compelled to pay a large tax. 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 449 

would receive an ample equivalent in the protection of their 
persons, and the security of their property." This principle 
was efficiently carried out by Governor Briggs during the 
whole course of his administration. In giving a new impulse 
to common schools, the Board of Education relied chiefly 
upon the labors of their secretary, Horace Mann, and upon 
normal schools. To these were soon added Teachers' In- 
stitutes, with lectures and specific subjects employed by the 
state, and also assistants to the secretary, both permanent 
and temporary, in awakening an interest in the schools 
throughout the state. Nor was the governor slow to per- 
ceive the advantages to be derived from education in its 
higher forms. On the occasion of an agricultural fair, he 
said, in an address, that he " wanted to see the time when 
there should be none more intelligent than farmers ; when 
the farmers' boys should go to Amherst, or Cambridge, or 
Williams, and return to their homes prepared to settle down 
as intelligent, useful, and happj'- farmers." 

On the 27th of August, 1845, commencement day, Mr. 
Quincy resigned the presidency of Harvard College. In 
the following year, the governor of the commonwealth in- 
ducted the Hon. Edward Everett into the vacant office. 
The address which the governor made on this occasion is 
Avorthy of being always remembered as the chaste, felicitous 
language of one, who, without the aid of learning, achieved 
honors and distinctions which any graduate of Harvard 
might envy. It is here given in full. 

" Sir : You having been duly elected president of Har- 
vard College, in compliance with ancient custom, and in 
the name of the Overseers, I do now invest you with the 
government and authority of that institution, to be exercised 
in the same manner and to the same extent as has been 
57 



450 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

heretofore done by your predecessors in office. I deliver to 
you these keys, with these books and papers, as badges of 
your authority ; confident that you will exercise and admin- 
ister the same according to the usages of the institution, and 
in obedience to the laws and constitution of the common- 
wealth. 

" Allow me, sir, to congratulate you, and the officers and 
friends of this venerable university, upon the auspicious cir- 
cumstances in which you enter into office. Having filled 
the most important civil stations in your own state, and 
under the government of the republic, with credit to your- 
self, and with honor to your country, you have now come 
up to this literary eminence, at the bidding of its authority, 
to take charge of the parent university of the New World. 
The entire unanimity with which you were chosen to this 
responsible trust, bears testimony to the estimate in which 
your qualifications were held by those whose duty it was 
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the retirement of your 
distinguished predecessor. A long line of learned and good 
men have, by their example, illuminated the path in which 
you are to walk. It does not become me to speak of the 
duties you are to perform. They are before you, and, in 
anticipation, you know them by heart. 

" To influence the young men of this country, to enlighten 
their minds, make right impressions upon their yielding 
hearts, to fashion their manners, mould their characters, and 
send them forth into the world qualified to act their part in 
society, and fulfil their destiny on earth, is, in my estimation, 
the highest and noblest object to which genius, and learning, 
and patriotism, and piety can be devoted. In early youth, 
your Alma Mater adorned you with her brightest honors, 
and bade you go forth into the world. Like a dutiful son, 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 451 

you have returned to render her the services of ripened 
manhood, and to aid her in raising up and sending out still 
other happy and promising sons. 

" More than half a century ago, Edmund Burke, in speak- 
ing of the English and French nobihty, said, ' The latter had 
the advantage of the former, in being surrounded by the 
powerful outguard of a military education.' History has 
shown how powerless that outguard was in protecting the 
nobility of France, and France herself, against the attacks 
of an internal foe. It will be your brightest purpose, and 
the purpose of those who co-operate with j^ou in this ancient 
seat of learning, to protect the youth committed to your 
care," by planting in the citadel of their hearts the more 
powerful internal guard of a Christian education. While 
pouring upon their opening minds the light of literature 
and science, there will be presented to them the beauties 
of practical Christianity, and strongly inculcated upon their 
moral nature the sublime doctrines and holy precepts of ' Him 
who spake as never man spake.' Here let youn^ men learn 
that true heroism consists in doing good ; that the highest 
attainment of personal honor is the forgiveness of injuries, 
and that God has made greatness and goodness insepar- 
able. 

" It only remains for me to express the great satisfaction 
which I feel in being made the organ of the Board of Over- 
seers for inducting you into office ; and I am sure, sir, that 
I may say for the people of the whole commonwealth, you 
have their confidence in advance, that by a liberal and just 
administration of the affairs of the college, you will, so far 
as in you lies, maintain its high reputation, make its benefits 
accessible to the aspirants after knowledge among all classes 
of our young men, and strengthen the public attachment 



452 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

for this institution of the state, which was founded by the 
liberality, the wisdom, and the prayers of our Puritan 
Fathers." 

On the 21st of February, 1848, John Quincy Adams was 
seized with paralysis in the House of Representatives, at 
Washington, and two days later his spirit peacefully de- 
parted. The gate of fear and envy was now closed ; that 
of honor and fame had opened. Men of all parties united 
in paying just tributes to his memory ; and when his remains 
were borne to Massachusetts, they were attended by thirty 
members of the House — one from each state in the Union. 
They were received in Boston by a committee appointed by 
the legislature of the state, and by the municipal govern- 
ment ; remained in state in Faneuil Hall for a brief period, 
and were then removed to Quincy, the birthplace of Mr. 
Adams. The venerable statesman died in the eightieth 
year of his life — having been born on the 11th of July, 
1767. 

The growth of Boston was so rapid, that what was origi- 
nally calculated to be a sufficient supply of water for half 
a century, was, in a few years, found to be inadequate. Pre- 
vious to 1848, the city was dependent upon wells and 
springs, and upon Jamaica Pond, in the town of West Rox- 
bury. But it soon appeared that the prospective wants of 
the city were far beyond the capacity of this pond to supply. 
In 1845 the difficulty was settled in favor of Lake Cochituate, 
lying in the towns of Natick, Framingham and Wayland. 
In the following year a legislative act granted the use of 
this lake, and a committee was appointed by the Boston City 
Council to carry the act into execution. New surveys were 
made, and an improved line of aqueduct was selected for 
conveying the water. In the same year the work was put 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 453 

under contract, and ground was broken on the 20th of 
August. The water was conveyed through a brick conduit 
from the eastern shore of the lake to a reservoir lying in 
the towns of Newton and Brookline. This reservoir is about 
five miles from the Boston City Hall. The length of the 
conduit was about fourteen and one half miles. From the 
reservoir to Boston, the water was conveyed through two 
iron pipes into a central reservoir on Beacon Hill, near the 
State House. On the 25th of October, 1848, the water was 
introduced into the city. A great procession was organized 
on that day, which marched through the principal streets to 
the Common, where, after prayer and singing, and appropri- 
ate literary exercises, the water was let on through the 
gate of the fountain, amid the shouts of the people, the roar 
of cannon, the hiss of rockets, and the ringing of bells. 

Toward the close of the year 1849, occurred in Boston 
one of the foulest murders recorded in the annals of crime, 

— the murder of Dr. George Parkman by Dr. John W. 
Webster, the Professor of Chemistry in Harvard College. 
From one end of the country to the other the public mind 
was aroused to an almost unparalleled degree. The deed 
was speedily followed by a trial, and a vindication of the 
majesty of the law. After the conviction of the prisoner, 
and after the sentence of condemnation to death had been 
pronounced, the governor was subjected to solicitations, 
entreaties, pleas, threats, and even offered bribes, if haply 
he might be prevailed upon to commute the sentence pro- 
nounced against the criminal. But the executive of the 
commonwealth stood firm. The nation held its breath with 
a deep applause. The public voice of this continent at 
length declared the sublimity of his more than Roman 

— his Christian — firmness in withholding his hand from 



454 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

altering, by one whit, the awful but just sentence of the 
court. 

In the spring of 1850, Governor Briggs felt the cares of 
state weighing heavily upon him, and the desire to lay them 
aside prevailed with him to decline a nomination. But the 
electors, to whom, on the 27th of April, he declared his 
intention of retiring, paid little heed to his address. He 
was again nominated, and at the election he was defeated, — 
not, however, by the direct vote of the people, but by the 
legislature, into which the election was thrown. At the 
opening of the legislative session in 1851, Governor Briggs 
resigned the office which he had filled with success and 
honor for seven years, and extended his greeting to the 
newly elected incumbent of the chair of state. 

The public life of Governor Briggs was cast in a rare 
model, and his character will always be numbered with the 
jewels of the old commonwealth. An anecdote, illustrating 
his independence of character, may fittingly close the present 
chapter. A gentleman of Boston called upon His Excel- 
lency one evening, and remarked, — 

" Governor, a few evenings since, among our friends, a 
matter came up in which you were mentioned ; but as it 
was personal, I am not sure that I do right to speak of it." 

" O, speak out, speak out," said the governor. 

" Well, then, our friends agreed that for one who occupies 
so honorable and dignified a position as governor of the 
state, you attend too many temperance conventions, and 
make too many temperance speeches. They think it is not 
exactly the thing for a governor to do." 

" When you see those friends on your return," replied 
the governor, "give them my best respects, and say to 
them, that in my opinion, to attend temperance meetings 



THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC OPINION. 455 

and conventions, and make temperance speeches, is not 
only the most dignified, but the most honorable, as well as 
most useful employment the people of Massachusetts can 
put their governor to ; and that whHe I am governor I shaU 
continue at this business." 



456 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 

On the 1st of May, 1848, a democratic convention met 
at Baltimore to nominate a candidate for the presidency. 
Two sets of delegates appeared from New York, both claim- 
ing to be the true representatives of the democracy of that 
state. No compromise could reconcile the parties, and tne 
convention solved the difficulty by excluding both from 
its deliberations. It then proceeded to nominate Senator 
Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for president, and General William 
O. Butler, of Kentucky, for vice president. The delegates 
representing the whig party, and those opposed to the meas- 
ures of the administration, met at Philadelphia, and nomi- 
nated General Zachary Taylor for president, and Millard 
Fillmore, of New York, for vice president. One portion 
of the New York democracy accepted the nominations of 
the Baltimore convention ; another portion rejected them. 
The latter called a convention at Baltimore, adopted a plat- 
form in favor of " Free Soil," and nominated ex-president 
Van Buren for the presidency, and Charles Francis Adams, 
son of John Quincy Adams, for the vice presidency. After 
a spirited canvass, the candidates of the whig party were 
elected ; and on the 4th of March, 1849, the new president 
was inducted into office. 

The death of John Quincy Adams created a vacanc}'^ in the 
eighth Congressional District of Massachusetts. Mr. Wilson 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 457 

was ahead of any other candidate for his succession, and 
Mr. Horace Mann was his only opposing candidate. Wil- 
son's strength was so great that he was chosen to rep- 
resent the district in the national whig convention, then 
about to assemble at Philadelphia to nominate General Tay- 
lor for the presidency. Taylor was elected, but survived 
only a little more than a year afterwards, and was suc- 
ceeded by Fillmore. Mr. Wilson went to the convention, 
with the intention of having incorporated in the platform 
the first fundamental republican principle, in a form as 
strong, at least, as the Wilmot Proviso, which proposed that 
slavery should be prohibited in all territory obtained by 
treaty. But the convention refused to concede anything 
to the anti-slavery sentiment of the party. Henry Wilson 
and Charles Allen, therefore, bolted, and a wild uproar 
in the convention was the result. A delegate from North 
Carolina remarked that the gentlemen were " injuring no 
one but themselves." A few days later, Wilson published 
an open defence of his course. " Bitter denunciations," 
said he, " have already been heaped upon me ; yet I see 
nothing to retract. No hope of political reward, no fear 
of ridicule or denunciation, will deter me from acting up 
to my convictions of duty in resisting the extension of 
slavery, and the arrogant demands of the slave power." 

The " Free Soil " party, whose leading policy was free 
soil, free labor, free speech, free men, and opposition to 
the extension of slavery and of the slave-holding power, 
taking the place of the old Liberty party, was now formed. 
In Massachusetts, conventions, mass meetings, school-district 
gatherings, speeches, consultations, and appeals in writing, 
were the order of the day. In the course of events, the 
whig party, having lost its vital principle, became a mere 
58 



458 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

faction, and gradually went out of existence as a political 
power. The solidity of the democratic party was also 
broken. In the ranks of this party were a few men of 
liberal views, progressive ideas, and fine abilities, promi- 
nent among whom were Nathaniel P. Banks and George 
S. Boutwell. To these men was suggested the feasibility 
of united operations between their two parties. Mr. Banks 
feared that any such arrangement would be misconstrued 
and misrepresented, and, finally, defeated ; although Mr. 
Boutwell was more cautious, he, too, thought that the ex- 
periment could not succeed. Shortly afterward, however, 
the idea began to take with the leading men of both the 
free soil and democratic parties, and finally developed into 
what was termed the "Coalition," and proved successful. 

The plan agreed upon was this : To run separate can- 
didates for governor, and " unite on members of the legis- 
lature in towns where the two parties, by combining, could 
elect their men. As it required a majority vote to elect 
the governor, there would be no choice by the people, and 
the legislature would choose the governor. It was under- 
stood from the start that the free soil party wanted the 
United States senator, and would unite for nothing else ; 
and it was further understood that they wanted Charles 
Sumner," i 

When the time for the gubernatorial election arrived, 
in the autumn of 1850, the democrats voted for George 
S. Boutwell, an intrepid debater, who had won fame in the 
House. The whig candidate, as has been previously stated, 
was he who had already filled the station for seven years, — 
Governor Briggs. There was no choice ; and hence the 
matter went to the legislature, where, by the aid of the 

' Mann, 33. 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 459 

free soil members, Mr. Boutwell was elected governor. 
Mr.. Wilson was chosen president of the senate, and Mr. 
Banks speaker of the House. 

One of the earliest acts of Mr. Fillmore, after having 
assumed, executive power, was to sign the infamous " Fugi- 
tive Slave Bill." The spirit of the north was aroused, and 
indignation came rolling like a pent-up torrent that had 
broken through the dam. A convention of the free soil 
party was held at Boston on the 3d of October, 1850, 
before which Mr. Sumner, being present, fearlessly de- 
nounced the iniquity of the bill. " I would not exagger- 
ate," said the speaker ; "I wish to keej) within bounds ; 
but I think no person can doubt that the condemnation 
now affixed to all these transactions, and to their authors, 
must be the lot hereafter of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and 
of every one, according to the measure of his influence, 
who gave it his support. Into the immortal catalogue of 
national crimes this has now passed, drawing after it, by 
an inexorable necessity, its authors also, and chiefly him, 
who, as president of the United States, set his name to 
the biU, and breathed into it that final breath without 
which it would have no life. Other presidents may be 
forgotten ; but the name signed to the Fugitive Slave Bill 
can never be forgotten. There are depths of infamy, as 
there are heights of fame. I regret to say what I must ; 
but truth compels me. Better for him had he never been 
born ! . . . I will not dishonor the home of the Pilgrims 
and of the revolution by admitting, nay, I cannot believe 
— that this bill will be executed here. Individuals among 
us, as elsewhere, may forget humanity in a fancied loyalty 
to law, but the public conscience will not allow a man, 
who has trodden our streets as a freeman, to be dragged 



/ 



460 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

away as a slave. By his escape from bondage, lie has 
shown that true manhood, which must grapple to him every 
honest heart. He may be ignorant and rude, as he is 
poor; but he is of a true nobility. The fugitive slaves 
of the United States are among the heroes of our age." 
*' We demand, first and foremost," he continued, " the 
instant repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law. We demand the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. We de- 
mand the exercise by Congress, in all territories, of the 
time-honored power to prohibit slavery. We demand of 
Congress to refuse to receive into the Union any new slave 
state. We demand the abolition of the domestic slave trade, 
so far as it can be constitutionally reached, but particu- 
larly on the high seas, under the national flag. And, gen- 
erally, we demand from the federal government the exercise 
of all its constitutional power to relieve itself from the 
responsibility for slavery. And yet one thing further must 
be done ; the slave power must be overturned, so that the 
federal government may be put openly, actively, and per- 
petually on the side of freedom." FaneuilHall never rang 
with more impassioned eloquence than this. 
/In the following January, Charles Sumner was nominated 
for senator by the free soil party, and was presented for 
the suffrages of the democratic members of the legislature. 
But Charles Sumner was an abolitionist, and the demo- 
cratic party,, as a national organization, was under control 
of the slave power. When the time for election came on, 
the coalition, which had succeeded in electing Mr. Bout- 
well for chief magistrate, was not strong enough to elect 
Mr. Sumner for senator, without some opposition. The 
opponent of Mr. Sumner was Robert C. Winthrop, the whig 
candidate. On the 16th of January, 1851, the long and 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 451 

bitter contest began. As yet, Mr. Sumner had never held 
any political office, while Mr. Winthrop, who was an inti- 
mate friend of Daniel Webster, had had large experience in 
public affairs. Nevertheless Mr. Sumner was a recognized 
orator, an accomplished statesman, and, although somewhat 
of an idealist, he showed the qualities necessary to discuss 
constitutional questions from the highest standpoint. Ballot 
after ballot, and innumerable consultations were held. The 
days and the weeks went by, and there was no choice. 
When the members of the legislature had grown weary 
of voting, and there were hints among the free soil men 
that the case was hopeless, and Sumner was out of the 
question, the democrats said, that if the name of Sumner 
could be withdrawn and that of Wilson substituted, there 
should be a speedy election. Mr. Wilson declined such an 
offer, and insisted that not a man should think of voting for 
any one but Sumner. He added, that the " coalition was not 
formed for his personal benefit, nor for George S. Boutwell's; 
it was formed to give Massachusetts a state government not 
under the control of powerful corporations, and a senator 
who could wake up the echoes of freedom in the Capitol 
of the nation; and they must keep voting till doomsday, 
if need be, to accomplish this result." 

On the twenty-sitxh ballot, which took place on the 24th 
of April, one democrat changed ; and Charles Sumner was 
elected for six years, from the 4th of March following, as 
the successor of Mr. Webster in the Senate of the United 
States. The democrat. Captain Israel Haynes of Sudbury, 
who voted for Mr. Sumner, did so, as he affirmed, " on 
principle, and because he believed him to be the better 
man." In his letter of acceptance, Mr. Sumner thus wrote : 
" Acknowledging the right of my country to the service 



462 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of her sons, wherever she chooses to place them, and with 
a heart full of gratitude that a sacred cause has been per- 
mitted to triumph through me, I now accept the post 
as senator. I accept it as the servant of Massachusetts ; 
mindful of the sentiments uttered by .her successive legis- 
latures, of the genius which inspires her history, and of 
the men, her perpetual pride and ornament, who breathed 
into her that breath of liberty which early made her an ex- 
ample to her sister states. In such a service, the way, 
though new to my footsteps, will be illumined by lights 
which cannot be missed. . . . Let me borrow, in conclu- 
sion, the language of another : ' I see my duty, — that of 
standing up for the liberties of my country; and, what- 
ever difficulties and discouragements lie in my way, I dare 
not shrink from it ; and I rely on that Being, who has 
not left us the choice of duties, that, whilst I shall con- 
scientiously discharge mine, I shall not finally lose my 
reward.' These are the words of Washington, uttered 
in the early darkness of the American revolution. The 
rule of duty is the same for the lowly and the great ; and 
I hope it may not seem presumptuous in one so humble 
as myself to adopt his determination, and to avow his 
confidence." ^ 

The election of Charles Sumner was the most memorable 
contest for the senatorship that any state in the Union 
had ever witnessed, whether there be taken into consid- 
eration the state of parties and their relations to each 
other, the long severity of the contest, the even balance 
of ballotings, or the tremendous results that have ensued. 
Massachusetts had found her man, and he was the right 
man in the right place. 

' ' Letter of May 14, 1851. 




THE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON. 



THE SLA VER V A GIT A TION. 463 

On the 3d of April of this year, Thomas Sims, a fugi- 
tive slave, was arrested in Boston, and after a hurried 
and summary examination before the commissioner, George 
Ticknor Curtis, he was given up to his pursuers. The poor 
slave youth begged of his counsel one favor. " Give me 
a knife," said he, " and, when the commissioner declares 
me a slave, I will stab myself to the heart, and die 
before his eyes. I will not be a slave ! " About mid- 
night, the mayor of Boston, attended by his marshal, and 
by two or three hundred policemen, all heavily armed, 
placed Sims on board " The Acorn," and sent him again 
into bondage. " And this," exclaimed the negro, " is Massa- 
chusetts liberty ! " He spoke these words on the memo- 
rable 19th of April.. 

In the spring of 1852, Louis Kossuth, governor of Hun- 
gary, visited Massachusetts. In April, he arrived fi-rst at 
Springfield, where he made a speech. After stopping for 
a brief season at Northampton, Worcester, and other towns 
on his route, he reached Boston on the 27th. On the fol- 
lowing day he visited the State House to pay his respects 
to the governor, and then made short addresses both in 
the Senate and in the House. During his sojourn in the 
commonwealth, Kossuth made two eloquent speeches in 
Faneuil Hall, and made short excursions to the leading 
towns and cities in the vicinity of Boston. On the 18th 
of May he departed from Massachusetts, and repaired to 
Albany. The parting scene was no matter of mere cere- 
mony, but showed that during his brief sojourn in the state 
Kossuth had won a place in the very heart of hearts of the 
best of her citizens. 

In the autumn of this same year, Daniel Webster left 
Washington, and retired to Marshfield. His health was 



464 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

fast declining, and a hurried visit to his old physician in 
Boston brought him no relief. On the 24th of October, 
after having executed his will, and surrounded by his family 
and most intimate friends, Mr. Webster uttered those well- 
known words, " I still live ! " and a few hours later, his 
spirit passed away. Such was the end of one who, if he 
had not lived as a conqueror, had lived as a king of men, 
in all that realm of intellectual power which governs the 
affairs of nations. 

On the 15th of September, 1852, the free soil party in 
Massachusetts held a state convention at Lowell. Mr. Sum- 
ner was present, and spoke on the necessity of that or- 
ganization. " The rising public opinion against slavery," 
he said, " cannot now flow in the old political channels. 
It is strangled, clogged, and dammed back. But, if not 
through the old parties, then over the old parties, this irre- 
sistible current shall find its way. It cannot be perma- 
nently stopped. If the old parties will not become its 
organ, they must become its victim. The party of free- 
dom will certainly prevail. It may be by entering into, 
and possessing one of the old parties, filling it with our 
strong life, or it may be by drawing from both to itself 
the good and true, who are unwilling to continue mem- 
bers of any political combination when it ceases to rep- 
resent their convictions. But in one way or the other, 
its ultimate triumph is sure : of this let no man doubt." 

In January, 1853, John H. Clifford took his seat as gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts. The election, which took place 
in the preceding November, had resulted in no choice by 
the people, and the contest was therefore carried into the 
legislature. The General Court opened on the 5th of Jan- 
uary, and was prorogued on the 25th of May. At this 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 465 

session, four hundred and twenty-two acts and ninety-nine 
resolves were passed. Thirty-one new companies were in- 
corporated for manufacturing purposes ; sixteen banks were 
incorporated, with an aggregate capital of four million two 
hundred thousand dollars ; also sixteen insurance companies, 
six savings banks, and sixteen gas-light companies. 

On the 2d of February, the House of Representatives 
proceeded to the choice, on the part of that body, of a 
Senator in the Congress of the United States, to succeed 
the Hon. John Davis, of Worcester. Hon. Edward Everett 
was chosen. On the following day the Senate voted 
with the same result. On the 4th of March, Mr. Everett 
took his seat at the session specially called by President 
Pierce. 

On the 26th of April the House voted to substitute 
for the report of a committee, that it was inexpedient to 
legislate on the subject of a ten-hour law, a bill pro- 
viding that, after October 1, 1853, no person should be 
employed in laboring in any manufacturing or mechanical 
employment, by or for any company incorporated by or under 
the laws of the commonwealth, more than twelve hours; 
after April 1, 1854, more than eleven hours; and after 
October 1, 1854, more than ten hours, — except in running 
railroad trains or steamboats, in making the repairs neces- 
sary to prevent the stoppage or interruption of the ordinary 
running of engines, mills, machinery, railroad trains, steam- 
boats, and mail stage coaches, or in doing labor of necessity 
o-r charity. On the 17th of May, the bill was passed to 
be engrossed. In the Senate, three days later, a substi- 
tute bill was reported, simply defining a day's labor as 
ten hours, in the absence of any special agreement, which 
was passed by that branch. The House refused to concur 
59 



466 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

in adopting this substitute, and, no committee of confer- 
ence being appointed, the matter thus dropped. 

In 1851, the General Court passed an act calling a third 
convention to revise the state constitution. The act was 
submitted to the people, and a majority voted against it. 
On the 7th of May, 1852, another act was passed, calHng 
upon the people to vote upon the question of calling a 
constitutional convention. It, too, was submitted to the 
people, and a majority having voted in favor of the pro- 
posed convention, an election for delegates thereto took 
place in March, 1853. On the 4th of May, the conven- 
tion met in the State House in Boston, and organized by 
choosing Nathaniel P. Banks, Jr., for president, and Wil- 
liam S. Robinson and James T. Robinson for secretaries. 
The convention was composed of men of eminent ability, 
embracing members of all the leading professions and occu- 
pations of life. 

On the 19th of May, Henry Wilson, as chairman of the 
committee to provide the order of business, brought for- 
ward a report of this committee in favor of making single 
senatorial districts on the basis of population, taking the 
ground that there was no reason why Lowell should be 
cut down in the basis because of its ten thousand women, 
or Boston because of its fifty thousand Irishmen and Ger- 
mans. " Upon political questions," such are the words 
of the report, " there may be differences of opinion ; but 
upon nineteen twentieths of the questions that come be- 
fore the legislature, your women, your foreign population, 
and your persons who cannot vote, have a deep and abiding 
personal interest." Said Mr. Wilson, in the debate, " I am 
not one of those who expect to advocate the right of women 
to vote. But one thing is certain ; I could not make an 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 467 

argument against it, and I would like to see fhe man 
who could make such an argument. And I go farther ; 
I believe that, upon most of the questions that concern 
this commonwealth and this country, they have their in- 
fluence ; and if they had also the right to vote, the country 
would be none the worse governed. The foreign popu- 
lation is engaged in the business affairs of life, in our 
churches and our schools, in the various pursuits of social 
life, and in everything that is consistent with the duties 
of citizens ; and they influence the opinions of their neigh- 
bors and friends." 

On the 27th of May, there was a long debate on the ques- 
tion of changing elections from the majority system to a 
plurality ; and on the following day, the question of making 
aliens ineligible to the office of governor came up. Said 
Mr. Wilson, ^' I see no necessity of putting these words, 
' citizens of the United States,' into the constitution. I am 
content that a citizen of Massachusetts shall be governor 
of Massachusetts, if the people choose to make him so. 
According to my understanding of the constitution, a man 
who is not a naturalized citizen of the State or the Union 
could be elected governor of this commonwealth to-day. I 
care nothing about the place where a man was born ; I do ^ 
not wish to bring the question into this discussion, and I 
do not like to have such words as ' foreign born ' incorpo- 
rated in the constitution." 

On the 20th, 21st, and"22d of June, there was a long 
debate on the powers of the state over the militia. At this 
time there was a strong prejudice against the colored race, 
which, till now, effectually excluded them from becoming 
members of the independent military organizations. In 
opposition to conservative opinions, Mr. Sumner said, " Mas- 



468 • HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

sachusetts may proudly declare that, in her own volunteer 
military companies, marshalled under her own local laws, 
there shall be no distinction of color or race." Mr. Wilson, 
proposed a resolve, " that no distinction shall ever be made 
in the organization of the volunteer militia of this common- 
wealth on account of color or race." This proposition was 
warmly opposed by the democrats, and assailed as being in 
violation of the spirit and letter of the laws and constitution 
of the United States. In support of the resolution, it was 
truly said, " The first victim of the Boston Massacre, on 
the 5th of March, 1770, which made the fires of resistance 
burn more intensely, was a colored man. Hundreds of 
colored men entered the ranks, and fought bravely in the 
revolution. Graydon, in his Memoirs, informs us that many 
southern officers disliked the New England regiments be- 
cause so many colored men were in their ranks. At Red 
Bank they received the commendation of the commander 
for gallant conduct. A colored battalion was organized for 
the defence of New Orleans ; and General Jackson publicly 
t"hanked them for courage and conduct. When the country 
has required their blood in days of conflict and trial, they 
have given it freely, and we have accepted ; but in times 
of peace, when their blood is not needed, we spurn and 
trample them under foot. I have no part in this great 
wrong to a race. Whenever and wherever we have the 
power to do it, I would give to all men, of every clime and 
race, of every creed and faith, freedom and equality before 
.the law. My voice and my vote shall ever be given for 
the equality of all the children of men before the laws of 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States." 
On the 1st of August, the convention agreed to a form 
of constitution, and was dissolved, after having provided 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 469 

for submitting the same to the people, and appointed a com- 
mittee to meet to count the votes, and to make a return 
thereof to the General Court. The committee met at the 
time and place agreed upon, and found that the proposed 
constitution had been rejected. 

In the state election of this year, the Hon. Emory Wash- 
burn, of Worcester, was chosen by the whigs for governor 
of Massachusetts. On the 4th of January, 1854, the new 
session of the General Court was begun ; and on the 12th, 
the oath of office was administered to the governor elect. 
At tl:^s session, which was prorogued on the 29th of April, 
four hundred and fifty-four Acts and eighty-six Resolves 
were passed, — of the former, the more important being, 
one providing for the manner of the election of representa- 
tives in the Congress of the United States ; one authorizing 
a loan of the state credit to the amount of two millions of 
dollars, to enable the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company 
to construct the Hoosac Tunnel ; one providing for the 
increase of the Massachusetts school fund, and for the dispo- 
sition of its income ; and one to aid in the erection of a 
monument, in Philadelphia, commemorative of American 
Independence. 

On the 23d of May, Charles F. Suttle, of Virginia, pre- 
sented to Edward Greely Loring, of Boston, judge of pro- 
bate and commissioner, a complaint under the Fugitive 
Slave Law, praying for the seizure and enslavement of 
Anthony Burns. The warrrant was issued, and on the 
next day Burns was arrested, under the false pretext of 
burglary, and confined in the Suffolk county court-house. 
At first, the right of counsel was denied to the prisoner ; 
but at the remonstrance of Theodore Parker and others, 
counsel were assigned, and the 27th of May was appointed as 



470 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the day for the hearing. On the evening of, the 26th, a 
great meeting was held at Faneuil Hall. During the morn- 
ing and afternoon of this day some members of the Vigi- 
lance Committee — including Parker, Phillips, Higginson, 
Kemp, Stowell, and Dr. Howe — discussed the proposal 
of making a sudden attack on the court-house, and of using 
the Faneuil Hall crowd to this end. The plan, however, 
was voted down, three to one. The meeting adjourned 
about five o'clock, and those who were to address the audi- 
ence that evening were cautioned not to permit this audi- 
ence to break up for any unprepared attack on the court- 
house. Between the hour of adjournment and that fixed 
for the public meeting, however, certain members of the 
Vigilance Committee decided themselves to make the attack. 
In the evening Faneuil Hall was filled to overflowing. 
Samuel G. Howe called the public meeting to order ; George 
R. Russell presided ; and speeches were made by Parker, 
Phillips, and others. The suppressed excitement of the 
audience was intense. Said Theodore Parker, ^' I am a 
clerg3^man, and a man of peace. I love peace. But there 
is a means, and there is an end. Liberty is the end ; and 
sometimes peace is not the means toward it. There are 
ways of managing this matter " — the Burns affair — " with- 
out shooting anybody. Be sure that these men who have 
kidnapped a man in Boston are cowards, every mother's son 
of them, and if we stand up there resolutely, and declare 
that this man shall not go out of the cit}'" of Boston, without 
shooting a gun^ then he won't go back. Now I am going to 
propose, that when you adjourn, it be to meet at Court 
Square to-morrow morning at nine o'clock. As many "as 
are in favor of that motion will raise their hands." Many 
hands were raised, and from the audience came shouts of 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 471 

"Let's go to-night. Let's pay a visit to the slave-catchers 
at the Revere House." The question was put, " Do you 
propose to go to the Revere House to-night ? Then show 
your hands. It is not a vote. We shall meet at Court 
Square at nine o'clock to-morrow morning." 

At this point there is a conflict of evidence. It is not 
possible to determine whether Parker had been informed 
of the new plan and waited for the signal agreed on, but 
thinking it was not given, concluded his speech as just 
quoted, or whether, knowing nothing of the proposed 
attack, he made it his principal aim to restrain the audience 
from rushing away into Court Square. There were, indeed, 
cries of alarm around the doors ; but those on the platform, 
supposing them to be feints only, held the audience within 
the hall. Before the meeting adjourned, — quietly, ■ of 
course, — Dr. Howe left the hall, and hurried to Court 
Square, to see whether the cries which he had heard really 
meant anything. Upon arriving at the court-house, he 
found that a small attack had been made; but the doors 
were closed, and the crowd dispersed. If we suppose the 
signal to have been given at Faueuil Hall, — which is quite 
improbable, — there surely would not have been time for 
the crowd to make its slow way to the square in season to 
be of any service. 

Thus the affair ended. During the remainder of that 
night and the whole of the next day the ma,rines and militia 
held the streets and guarded the court-house. The slave 
was handed over to his master ; and on Friday, the 2d of 
June, he was marched through Court Street and State 
Street to the wharf, in the centre of a hollow square of 
armed ruffians, themselves guarded by companies of militia, 
protected by cannon. The bells of the city tolled a solemn 



472 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

dirge ; the streets were draped in black ; and the whole 
scene was as awful as imagination can picture it. Those who 
witnessed the spectacle will never, never forget it.^ 

In the spring of 1854, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, 
proposed a bill in the United States Senate to organize the 
immense region, extending from the confines of Missouri, 
Iowa, and Minnesota, to the crest of the Rocky Mountains, 
and from 36° 30' north latitude to the British Possessions, 
into two territories, to be known as Kansas and Nebraska. 
This bill contained a clause repealing the Missouri Com- 
promise, under the plea that it " was inconsistent with the 
principle of non-intervention by Congress with slaveiy in 
the states and territories, as recognized by the compromise 
measures of 1850." The people were taken by surprise ; 
for the question, so destructive to national harmony, and 
which it was hoped had been settled forever, had assumed a 
new form. The Missouri Compromise had been deemed a 
sacred, compact between the North and the South, and as 
such, for the third of a century, had received the sanction 
of all parties. On the 21st of February, — a day that tried 
men's souls, — Charles Sumner arose, almost single-handed 
and alone, to defend human rights, and to speak in opposi- 
tion to the repeal. With regard to the future of his cause, 
he said, — 

"I am not blind to the adverse signs ; but this I see clear- 
ly : amidst all seeming discouragements, the great omens are 
with us. Art, literature, poetry, religion, everything which 
elevates man, — all are on our side. The plough, the steam 
engine, the railroad, the telegraph, the book, every human 
improvement, every generous word anywhere, every true 

' Anthony Burns was subsequently purchased, became a preacher, and 
settled in Canada. 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 473 

pulsation of every heart, which is not a mere muscle and 
nothing else, gives new encouragement to the warfare with 
slarery. The discussion will proceed. The devices of party 
can no longer stave it off. The subterfuges of the politician 
cannot escape it. The tricks of the office-seeker cannot 
dodge it. Wherever an election occurs, there this question 
will arise. Wherever men come together to speak of public 
affairs, there again will it be. No political Joshua now, with 
miraculous power, can stop the sun in his course through 
the heavens. It is even now rejoicing, like a strong man 
to run its race, and will yet s6nd its beams into the most 
-distant plantations, — ay, sir, and melt the chains of every 
slave.." 

On the night of the 25th of May, the Kansas and Nebraska 
bill passed Congress, and having been signed by the presi- 
deait, became the law of the land. " It is at once the worst 
and. the best bill," exclaimed Mr. Sumner, before it passed, 
*^'(0n which Congress ever acted. It is the worst bill, inas- 
much as it is a present victory of slavery. In a Christian 
laiad, and in an age of civilization, a time-honored statute 
of freedom is struck down ; opening the way to all the 
countless woes and wrongs of human bondage. Among the 
<5trimes of history another is about to be recorded, which no 
tears can blot out, and which, in better days, will be read 
with universal shame. It is the best bill on which Con- 
gress ever acted ; for it prepares the way for that ' all hail 
hereafter,' when slavery must disappear. Standing at the 
very grave of freedom in Kansas and Nebraska, I lift myself 
to the vision of that happy resurrection by which freedom 
will be secured hereafter, not only in these territories, but 
•everywhere under the national government. More clearly 
than ever before, I now see ' the beginning of the end ' of 
60 



474 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

slavery. Proudly I discern the flag of my country, as it 
ripples in every breeze, at last become in reality, as in name, 
the flag of freedom, undoubted, pure, and irresistible. Sor- 
rowfully I bend before the wrong you are about to enact ; 
joyfully I welcome all the promises of the future." 

On the 31st of May, 185-1:, a state convention of the Free 
Soil party was held in Boston, at which a series of resolutions 
denunciatory of the Fugitive Slave Law and the Kansas- 
Nebraska Act, were passed. " The time has come,"^ it was 
said, "to forget the past, obliterate the Fugitive Slave Act, 
and to do what we can to place the country perpetually 
on the side of freedom. The time has now come for the 
freemen of the North to form one great progressive Demo- 
cratic party that shall guide the policy and control the 
destinies of the republic. Whether the standard bearer of 
that party shall be our own trusted leader of 1852, or a 
member of the whig or democratic party, he shall have the 
unwavering support of the free democracy." 

Shortly afterward, a strong effort was made in Massachu- 
setts to unite the opponents of the repeal of the Missouri 
prohibition, and to form a political organization that should 
be untrammelled by slaveholding alliances. On the 20th 
of July, a mass convention of the people was held at Wor- 
cester, who declared in favor of a new organization, to be 
called the " Republican " party. On the 7th of September, 
a state convention of the republican party was held at the 
same place. The Hon. Robert Rantoul, of Beverly, pre- 
sided, and the majority of the members were Free Sellers. 
But few whigs and democrats were present. The conven- 
tion nominated Henry Wilson as a candidate for governor, 
and Increase Sumner for lieutenant governor. In the course 
of the day, Charles Sumner, who had returned to Massachu- 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 475 

setts to unite with his fellow-citizens in new vows of duty, 
addressed the convention. 

*' By the passage of the Nebraska Bill," he said, " and 
the Boston kidnapping case, the tyranny of the slave power 
has become unmistakably manifest ; while, at the same time, 
all compromises with slavery are happily dissolved, so that 
freedom now stands face to face with its foe. The pulpit, 
too, released from ill-omened silence, now thunders for free- 
dom, as in the olden time. It belongs to Massachusetts — 
nurse of the men and principles which made tiie earliest 
Revolution — to vow herself anew to her ancient faith, as 
she lifts herself to the great struggle. Her place now, as 
of old, is in the van, at the head of the battle. But to sus- 
tain this advanced position, with proper inflexibility, three 
things are needed by our beloved commonwealth, in all her 
departments of government, — the same three things which 
once, in Faneuil Hall, I ventured to say, were needed by 
every representative of the North at Washington. The first 
is backbone; the second is backbone; and the third is 
backbone. With these, Massachusetts will be respected, and 
felt as a positive force in the national government ; while 
at home, on her own soil, — free, at last, in reality as in 
name, — all her people, from the islands of Boston to Berk- 
shire hills, and .from the sands of Barnstable to the northern 
line, will unite in the cry, — 

' No slare hunt in our borders ! no pirate on our strand ! 
No fetter in the Bay State ! no slave upon her land ! ' " 

It became every day more apparent, however, that the 
attempt to unite the opponents of the repeal of the Missouri 
prohibition into one party had signally failed in Massachu- 
setts. The leaders of the new party resolved, therefore, to 



476 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

co-operate with a secret organization that had sprung into 
existence a few months previous, and was rapidly increasing 
in numbers. When the convention of that organization 
assembled in October, it evinced great strength. The free 
soilers and democrats that had, three years before, sent Mr. 
Sumner and Mr. Rantoul to the national senate, and made 
Mr. Boutwell governor, were in the majority. After the 
organization of the convention, the name of Henry Wilson 
was proposed as a candidate for the governorship. He 
declined the nomination, for the reason that he had already 
accepted the republican nomination. He affirmed, however, 
that something ought to be done to break up the whig and 
democratic parties of the state, and to elect a senator and 
representatives to Congress with no southern alliances. "To 
accomplish such results he was ready to make any personal 
sacrifice, and so was the great body of the anti-slavery men 
of the state. Sound policy required that the nominees of 
that convention for governor and lieutenant governor should 
be taken from the whig and democratic parties ; and he 
appealed to his personal and political friends to cast no votes 
for him." The result of the fall election was a partial 
triumph of the policy of freedom. Seven free-soilers were 
sent to Congress, and with them Nathaniel P. Banks, who 
had been a coalition democrat ; James Buffinton, Linus B. 
Comins, and Robert- B. Hall, one of the original twelve 
members of the New England Anti-slavery Society. Not 
less than twenty thousand free-soilers in the state went into 
the American, or so-called " Know-Nothing " organization. 

Henry J. Gardner, of Boston, was triumphantly chosen 
governor by the " Know-Nothings," by a majority of up- 
ward of thirty-one thousand votes. Only six whigs and one 
democrat were elected into the House of Representatives. 



THE SLA VER Y A GIT A TION. 477 

The election was a complete victory for the Know Nothing 
party ; and it was the more remarkable, because resulting 
wholly unexpectedly. The democrats were non-plussed ; 
while the whigs, who had assured themselves of the re- 
election of Mr. Washburn, as a matter of certainty, could 
scarcely believe what had taken place. The new legislature 
began its session on the 3d of January, 1855, and closed on 
the 21st of May. During this session of one hundred and 
thirty-nine days in length, four hundred and eighty-nine 
Acts, and eighty-nine Resolves were passed. Among the 
more important of these Acts was one providing for the 
appointment of a Board of Insurance Commissioners ; and 
requiring them to visit every insurance company in the state 
at least once in two years, and thoroughly examine their books 
and papers ; one prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, 
except by authorized agents, and authorizing officers to arrest, 
without warrant, any person found in the act of illegally 
selling or distributing such liquors ; one, compelling the 
attendance of children at either public or private schools ; 
one providing for the establishment of a State Reform School 
for girls ; one abolishing imprisonment for debt, and pro- 
viding for the punishment of fraudulent debtors, and one, 
protecting the rights and liberties of the people of the 
commonwealth, declaring every person entitled to writ of 
HABEAS COKPUS, except in cases specified in the Revised 
Statutes, and prohibiting any officer of the state or member 
of the volunteer militia, under penalty, from aiding in the 
seizure or detention of fugitive slaves. 

Before the session closed, Henry Wilson was elected to 
the Senate of the United States, by a vote of one hundred 
and four majority in the House, and one majority in the 
Senate. On the 10th of February, 1855, he entered upon 



478 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the duties of his office at Washington, as the successor of 
Edward Everett. At this time the Senate was a body of 
great and distinguished men. To be sure, neither Webster, 
nor Clay, nor Calhoun, were there ; but their places were 
supplied by Charles Sumner, Stephen A. Douglas, John M. 
ClaytQn, Lewis Cass, William H. Seward, Hamilton Fish, 
Salmon P. Chase, and others. Franklin Pierce was still in 
the presidential chair. Jefferson Davis was in the cabinet, 
and the Kansas question was before the country. The 
whole administratictn, and all its ideas, sympathies, and 
devices were at war with the progressive spirit of the age, 
and was confused and overwhelmed by the exigencies of the 
hour. 

Mr. Sumner did not identify himself with the American 
organization, which he characterized as a "short-lived" 
party. " It is proposed,^' he said, justly, " to attaint men 
for their religion, and also for their birth. If this object 
can prevail, vain are the triumphs of civil freedom in its 
many hard-fought ' fields, vain is that religious toleration 
which we all profess. The fires of Smithfield, the tortures of 
the Inquisition, the proscriptions of non-conformists, may all 
be revived. It was mainly to escape these outrages, dictated 
by a dominant religious sect, that our country was early 
settled, in one place by Quakers, who set at nought all 
forms ; in another by Puritans, who disowned bishops ; in 
another by Episcopalians, who take their names from bishops ; 
and in yet another by Catholics, who look to the Pope as 
their spiritual father. Slowly among sects was evolved the 
great idea of the equality of all men before the law, without 
regard to religious belief ; nor can any part}"- now organize 
a proscription merely for religious belief, without calling in 
question this unquestionable principle." 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 479 

Governor Gardner was re-elected in the autumn of 1855, 
notwithstanding that his policy had alienated many of his 
original supporters. The whig party had already become too 
much a faction, and the democrats were too few in numbers to 
recover from the defeat of the previous year, and were there- 
fore powerless to offer any effective opposition. The session 
of the General Court for 1856 was begun on the 2d of 
January, and was prorogued on the 6th of June. At this 
session three hundred and ten Acts and one hundred and 
three Resolves were passeid. 

By the passage, in 1854, of the Kansas and Nebraska Bill, 
a vast extent of territory was laid open, both to free and 
servile labor, and immigration at once began to set in from 
the north and south, thus bringing freedom and slavery 
hand to hand and face to face. In the autumn of 1855 
confusion reigned in the territory. Outrages of almost 
every kind were committed, and property, belonging in the 
most part to the free state settlers, was destroyed. In the 
spring of 1856, Mr. Seward presented " A bill for the 
admission of Kansas into the Union," on which a lEierce 
debate ensued. In the course of the discussion Mr. Sum- 
ner made his celebrated speech, entitled " The Crime against 
Kansas." " The Nebraska bill," said the speaker, " was in 
every respect a swindle. It was a swindle by the south of 
the north. It was, on the part of those who had already 
■completely enjoyed their share of the Missouri Compromise, 
a swindle of those whose share was yet absolutely untouched ; 
and the plea of unconstitutionality set up — like the plea of 
usury after the borrowed money has been enjoyed — did not 
make it less a swindle. God be praised ! Massachusetts, the 
honored commonwealth that gives me the privilege to plead 
for Kansas on this floor, knows her rights, and will maintain 



480 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

them firmly to the end. To men on earth it belongs only 
to deserve success, not to secure it ; and I know not how 
soon the efforts of Massachusetts will wear the crown of 
triumph. But it cannot be that she acts wrong for herself 
or children, when in this cause she thus encounters reproach. 
No ; by the generous souls who were exposed at Lexington ; 
by those who stood arrayed at Bunker Hill ; by the many 
from her bosom, who, on all the fields of the first great 
struggle, lent their vigorous arms to the cause of all ; by the 
children she has borne, whose names alone are national 
trophies, — is Massachusetts now vowed irrevocably to this 
work. What belongs to the faithful servant, she will do 
in all things ; and Providence shall determine the result." 

" Such words are damaging ! " " He has the audacity of 
a Danton." " He must be silenced ! " "-Shall we challenge 
him ? " Such were some of the remarks which now escaped 
from the lips of the southern chivalry. Nor were these 
remarks uttered without a deep, fiendish meaning. On the 
22d of May, two days subsequent to the conclusion of his 
speech, Mr. Sumner, while seated at his desk in the senate 
chamber, engaged in writing, and after the Senate had 
adjourned, was assaulted and beaten to the floor by Preston 
S. Brooks, of South Carohna. The senator fell forward, 
bleeding and insensible, as a dead man. " Do you want the 
pieces of your cane, Mr. Brooks?" asked a page of the 
Senate. " Only the gold head," replied the ru£Banly assail- 
ant. " The next time, kill him. Brooks," said his companion, 
who stood in the doorway with a pistol in his hand. " Come, 
let us go and take a drink." They did so. 

Mr. Sumner, assisted by a few friends, was removed to 
his lodgings, where for several days he wavered between 
life and death. The assault of Preston S. Brooks struck 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 481 

the heart of every slave, and every friend of freedom on 
this continent. As soon as the news reached Boston a 
large meeting was called in Faneuil Hall. " We must 
stand by him," said Governor Gardner, " who is the represen- 
tative of Massachusetts, under all circumstances." " Every 
drop of blood," remarked Peleg W. Chandler, " shed by 
him in this disgraceful affair has raised up ten thousand 
armed men." On the 27th of May, Mr. Wilson, on the 
floor of the Senate, characterized the assault as "brutal, 
murderous, and cowardly ; " and on the 21st of June, Mr. 
Anson Burlingame, in a manly speech in the House, said, 
" I denounce it in the name of the sovereignty of Massachu- 
setts, which was stricken, down by the blow; I denounce it 
in the name of humanity ; I denounce it in the name of 
civilization, which it outraged ; I denounce it in the name 
of that fair play which even bullies and prize-fighters re- 
spect. What ! strike a man when he is pinioned, — when 
he cannot respond to a blow ! Call you that chivalry ! In 
what code of honor did j^ou get your authority for that ? " 
On the 3d of November, Mr. Sumner, having recovered 
somewhat from his injuries, arrived in Boston, and met with 
a reception little less than a triumph.^ 

On the 4th of November occurred the eighteenth presiden- 
tial election. The main question at issue was, — the exten- 
tion of slavery into the territories, or its limitation to the 
states wherein it already existed. Within a few years, as 
we have already seen, political .issues had somewhat 
changed. A party, known as the "American," had arisen 
in 1853, whose main principle was opposition to foreign 
influence, and their motto, " Americans should rule America." 

' Brooks was sentenced to pay a fine of three hundred dollars for his bru- 
tality. He died miserably in Washington, January 27, 1857. 

61 



482 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In the following year this party was successful in most of 
the state elections. Meantime arose another ^Darty, com- 
posed chiefly of whigs and democrats, who were opposed to 
the extension of slavery into free territory. They were 
known as republicans. On the other hand, the democrats 
were willing that slavery should go into the territories if 
the inhabitants thereof desired it. The latter party nomi- 
nated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania ; " the republicans 
nominated John C. Fremont, of California, and the Ameri- 
cans nominated ex-president Fillmore for the presidency. 
After a canvass of more than usual spirit, nineteen states, 
with one hundred and seventy-four electoral votes, went for 
Buchanan and Breckenridge ; eleven states, with one hun- 
dred and fourteen electoral votes, for Fremont and Da3*ton ; 
and one state, — Maryland, — with eight electoral votes, 
for Fillmore and Donaldson. Mr. Gardner was also re- 
elected governor of Massachusetts. The General Court 
assembled on the 7th of January, 1857, and rose on the 
30th of May. During the session, three hundred and six 
.Acts and one hundred and eight Resolves were passed. 

On the 30th of January, Charles Sumner was unanimously 
re-elected to another six years' term of office. "It is not 
too much to say," remarked the New York Tribune, "that 
Mr. Sumner is at this moment the most popular man in the 
state, the opinions of which he so truly represents." 

In the election of 1857 there were four candidates in the 
field for the governorship: Nathaniel P. Banks was the 
choice of the republicans, ex-governor Gardner was the 
choice of the whigs, Erasmus D. Beach was the choice of the 
democrats, and Caleb Swan was the candidate of a few men, 
who called themselves "straight republicans." Mr. Beach 
was the regular administration candidate. The party which 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 483 

supported ex-governor Gardner was, in reality, little more than 
a personal faction, strengthened by no common bond and 
purpose. The professed object of Mr. Banks's supporters was 
" to unite in a single effective political organization, recogniz- 
ing and recognized by similar organizations in the other states 
of the Union, all citizens of Massachusetts who are opposed 
to the policy of the present national administration, especially 
as regards the extension of slavery ; who are opposed to 
the development of the doctrine, set forth by the president 
in his letter to the New Haven memorialists, that slavery 
exists everywhere in the public domain of the United States, 
by virtue of the constitution, — and who are opposed to the 
reopening of the slave trade, now loudly demanded by the 
southern wing of the democratic party, which thus far in 
the history of the country, has always obtained its demands." 
Furthermore, Mr. Banks invited to his support all those 
voters who desired to see established in the commonwealth 
a practical and effective system of State reform, whereby the 
taxes should so be reduced as to make a practical alleviation 
in the burden of the tax payers. Mr. Banks was elected by 
a plurality of upward of twenty-three thousand votes ; 
thirty-two senators, and one hundred and sixty-three repre- 
sentatives, were also elected by the party to the General 
Court. 

General Banks held his office for three years, being twice 
re-elected by overwhelming majorities. His administration 
was one of great prosperity. The manufacturing interest, 
so heavily oppressed by the recent financial crisis, was stead- 
ily advanced, and placed upon a more encouraging basis. 
The municipal charities of the commonwealth were faithfully 
administered, and an increased economy was maintained in 
the management of almshouses. The commissioners ap- 



484 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

pointed by the act of 1854, to revise the General Statutes, 
completed their work during this administration. The 
statute of 1858, consolidating the courts of probate and 
chancery, was found to operate favorably. The report of 
the adjutant general represented the flourishing condition 
of the militia. In 1858 there were one hundred and forty- 
seven thousand six hundred and eighty-two men enrolled, 
and five thousand seven hundred and seventy-one were in 
active service. Said the governor, " No commonwealth has 
better material than our own for effective military organiza- 
tions, and properly established upon the regimental basis, it 
would present citizen soldiers unsurpassed by any on this 
continent, either in regular or volunteer service. There is 
necessity for more clearly defined general regulations for the 
military forces of the state than now exist. It is proper 
that Massachusetts should have a military code of her own, 
which, while it should recognize and enforce the constitu- 
tional authority of the United States, should be also adapted 
to the conditions and wants of her own service, and I invite 
you to consider the expediency of appointing a commission 
of military officers for the consideration of this subject." ^ 

During this administration *the Supreme Court entered a 
decision confirming the title of the commonwealth to the 
lands in the Back Bay, which embraced an area of one hun- 
dred acres. The same decision established, also, the pre- 
rogative title of the state to all channels and flats within its 
jurisdiction, below the line of private ownership. A few 
months later, contracts were made for filling one half the 
Back Bay lands. The long pending question of boundary 
between the Commonwealth and the State of Rhode Island, 
which had been a subject of controversy since the adoption 

' Message, January 6, 1859. 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 485 

of the Federal Constitution, was finally adjusted in 1860, by 
the adoption of a conventional line. 

In his valedictory address, delivered on the 3d of January, 
1861, Governor Banks alluded to one topic, which had a 
direct bearing on the war which was so soon to open. The 
legislature of 1858 had passed an " Act for the protection of 
personal liberty," which was intended to mitigate the harsh 
provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law. Judge Story had 
ruled that the constitution contemplated the existence of a 
" positive, unqualified right on the part of the owner of 
a slave, which no state law or regulation can in any way 
qualify, regulate, control, or restrain." This opinion of the 
Supreme Court was approved by the state legislature, and 
confirmed by the Supreme Judicial Court. Said Governor 
Banks, " It is not my purpose to defend the constitution- 
ality of the Fugitive Slave Act. The omission of a provision 
for jury trial, however harsh and cruel, cannot in any event 
be supplied by state legislation. While I am constrained to 
doubt the right of this state to enact such laws, I do not 
admit that, in any just sense, it is a violation of the national 
compact. It is only when unconstitutional legislation is 
enforced by executive authority that it assumes that char- 
acter, and no such result has occurred in this state. ... I 
cannot but regard the maintenance of a statute, although it 
may be within the extremest limits of constitutional power, 
which is so unnecessary to the public service and so detri- 
mental to the public peace, as an inexcusable public wrong. 
I hope by common consent it may be removed from the 
statute book, and such guarantees as individual freedom 
demands be sought in new legislation." ^ 

' These and other words embraced in Governor Banks's valedictory address 
were made prominent pretexts by the disunion party to justify a dissolution 
of the Union. 



486 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In the election of 1860 there were also four candidates. 
John A. Andrew, of Boston, was the candidate of the repub- 
licans ; Erasmus D. Beach, of Springfield, of the Douglas 
wing of the democrats ; Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, of 
the conservatives ; and Benjamin F. Butler, of Lowell, of 
the Breckenridge wing of the democrats. Mr. Andrew 
received a majority over all the opposing candidates of 
upward of thirty-nine thousand votes. The eight councillors 
elected, and all the members of Congress, were republicans. 
The i)residential electors in favor of the election of Abraham 
Lincoln, of Illinois, and of Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, for 
president and vice president of the United States, received 
about the same majority as did Mr. Andrew for governor. 

Governor Andrew was inaugurated on the 5th of January, 
1861. In his address he reviewed the condition of the coun- 
try, and thus alluded to the position which Massachusetts 
and her great statesmen had always held in regard to it. 
" Inspired," said he, " by the same ideas and emotions which 
commanded the fraternization of Jackson and Webster on 
another great occasion of public danger, the people of Massa- 
chusetts, confiding in the patriotism of their brethren in 
other states, accept this issue, and respond in the words of 
Jackson : ' The Federal Union ; it must he preserved ! ' 
Until we complete the work of rolling back this wave of 
rebellion, which threatens to ingulf the government, over- 
throw democratic institutions, subject the people to the 
rule of a minority, if not of mere military despotism, and in 
some communities to endanger the very existence of civil- 
ized society, we cannot turn aside, and we will not turn 
back. It is to those of our brethren in the disaffected 
states, whose mouths are closed by a temporary reign of 
terror, not less than to ourselves, that we owe this labor, 



THE SLAVERY AGITATION. 487 

which with the help of Providence it is our duty to per- 
form." 

" I need not add," he concluded, " that whatever rights 
pertain to any person under the constitution of the Union 
are secure in Massachusetts while the Union shall endure ; 
and whatever authority or function pertains to the federal 
government for the maintenance of any such right, is an 
authority or function which neither the government nor the 
people of this commonwealth can or would usurp, evade, or 
overthrow ; and Massachusetts demands, and has a right to 
demand, that her sister states shall likewise respect the con- 
stitutional rights of her citizens within their limits." 

It is plain that Governor Andrew believed that war be- 
tween the north and south was inevitable. It is known, 
moreover, that on the very day of his inauguration he 
placed himself in confidential relations with each of the 
governors of the New England States, and urged them, at 
all possible speed, to prepare for the approaching conflict. 
He also advised that an inquiry should be made whether, in 
addition to the active volunteer militia, the dormant militia, 
or some considerable portion of it, should not be placed on 
a footing of activity. " For how otherwise," he inquired, 
" in the possible contingencies of the future, can we be sure 
that Massachusetts has taken care to preserve the manly sel^ 
reliance of the citizens, by which, alone in the long run, can 
the creation of standing armies be averted, and the state also 
be ready, without inconvenient delay, to contribute her share 
of force in any exigency of public danger ? " 



488 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 

The 4th of March, 1861, witnessed the departure of an 
old, and the advent of a new administration, in the midst 
of pending serious national calamities. On that day, Abra- 
ham Lincoln, of Illinois, was sworn in as President of the 
United States. Although rumors of revolt, of assassination, 
and of a destruction of the Capitol were rife, the solemn 
and impressive ceremonies were completed without disaster 
or crime. In his inaugural address. President Lincoln said, 
" In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and 
not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The 
government will not assail you ; you can have no conflict 
without yourselves being the aggressors. You have no oath 
registered in heaven to destroy the government ; while I 
shall have the most solemn one to ' preserve, protect, and 
defend it.' " The president's commencement was the omen 
of a successful administration. 

About the middle of April, the news of the fall of Fort 
Sumter went like a thunderbolt through the land. The 
martial spirit of the people was aroused. Law, order, 
peace, the foundations of the republic, had been outraged ; 
and never did British blood or Celtic ire leap quicker at 
an insult offered to their nation's honor, than did the Amer- 
ican spring to redeem his flag from this deep disgrace. In 
view of the myrmidons of rebellion belching their fires 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 489 

upon the cherished institutions of the Union, the presi- 
dent of the United States had nothing to do but to strike 
in return. There was no cause, no time for deliberation. 
From the south to the north, from the east to the west, 
went the cry — to arms. Then followed a proclamation, 
calling forth seventy-five thousand of the militia of the 
several states ; Congress was ordered to assemble on the 
4th of July ; the ports of South Carolina, Georgia, Ala- 
bama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and 
North Carolina — the seceded states — were declared to be 
in a state of blockade. On the 3d of May, the president 
called for forty-two thousand volunteers to serve for three 
years, for the enlistment of eighteen thousand seamen for 
the naval service, and directed that the regular army should 
be increased by twenty-two thousand seven hundred and 
fourteen men. The national executive had done his duty. 
He had not precipitated war upon the country ; war had 
been forced upon him. It only remained for the people 
to' respond to his call, and by their acts show to him, 
and to all the world, whether or not it was easy to break 
in two the great American Republic. 

Four facts stand out prominently in the response of Massa- 
chusetts to the proclamation of President Lincoln. First, 
the excellent system for the organization and discipline of 
the military force of the state ; second, the ascertaining 
at headquarters of the number of officers and men who 
would respond to any call : third, the foresight that in- 
duced the legislature on the 3d of April to pass a bill 
appropriating twenty-five thousand dollars, and authorizing, 
the adjutant general to contract for clothing and ammuni- 
tion for two thousand troops ; and fourth, the fact that 
the volunteer militia, for three months previous to the 
62 



490 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

outbreak, in anticipation of trouble in the south, wisely 
prex^ared themselves for action. The results of such pro- 
ceedings only show the force of the aphorism — "In peace 
pre^Dare for war." 

Governor Andrew, on the 15th of April, received a 
telegram from Washington, urging him to send forward at 
once fifteen hundred men. The drum beat of the long 
roll had been struck. On the morning of the 16 th vol- 
unteers began to arrive in Boston. The first to reach the 
capital were the three companies of the eighth regiment, 
belonging to Marblehead, commanded by Captains Martin, 
Phillips, and Boardman. On the same day, the fifth regi- 
ment was ordered to report, and on the 17th, Brigadier 
General Benjamin F. Butler was detailed to command the 
troops. At six o'clock on the afternoon of the 16th, the 
third, fourth, and sixth regiments were ready to start. 
Meanwhile new companies were being raised in all parts of 
the state. 

As if by magic, the entire character of the state was 
changed ; from a peaceful, industrious community, it became 
a camp of armed men, and the hum of labor gave place 
to the notes of fife and drum. Amid the excitement that 
everywhere prevailed, every one was anxious to do some- 
thing, and in some way to be useful. Hundreds of the 
wealthier citizens of Massachusetts pledged pecuniary aid 
to soldiers' families. The Boston banks offered to loan the 
state three million six hundred thousand dollars, without 
security, while other banks in the state manifested similar 
liberality. Gentlemen of the learned professions tendered 
their services, while ladies of every rank in life showed their 
willingness to minister to the sick and wounded men in 
the hospitals. 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 491 

The sixth regiment — the first to reach Washington — 
mustered at Lowell on the 16th, left Boston on the 17th, and 
reached Philadelphia, on the 18th of April. On the fol- 
lowing day the regiment was attacked by a mob in Bal- 
timore, and four men were killed, and thirty-six were 
wounded. The names of the former merit to be remem- 
bered : Addison O. Whitney, Luther C. Ladd, and Charles 
A. Taylor, of company D, Lowell, and Sumner H. Needham, 
of company I, Lawrence. At five o'clock the troops reached 
Washington, and were quartered in the senate chamber. 
It. was the first blood shed, the first victory, and Massachu- 
setts had the honor, as in the first revolution. Under the 
roof of the Capitol were sheltered the brave men who 
first marched to save it. When the news came that the 
sons of Middlesex and Essex had fought their way through, 
there was a shout of exultation which told that Massachu- 
setts honored Massachusetts steel. 

The third regiment, composed of companies belonging to 
Norfolk, Plymouth, and Bristol counties, left Boston on 
the 17th of April, and arrived at Fortress Monroe on the 
20th. The fourth regiment, similarly composed, left Boston 
on the same day, and arrived at Fortress Monroe, likewise, 
on the 20th. The eighth regiment, made up of the men of 
Middlesex and Essex, left Boston on the 18th, and arrived 
at Philadelphia on the 19th. The fifth regiment departed 
on the 21st, and proceeded, by way of New York, to 
Annapolis, where it arrived on the morning of the 24th. 
Two days later, the regiment reached Washington, and was 
quartered in the treasury building. On the 21st of July, 
the fifth bore an honored part in the disastrous battle at 
Bull Run, exactly three months from the day the regiment 
left Faueuil Hall. On the 30th it returned to Boston, 



492 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

having been in service three months and seven days. On 
the 21st of April, the eighth regiment landed at Annapolis, 
saved the frigate " Constitution," and on the 26th reached 
Washington. With regard to this regiment, the National In- 
teUigencer observed, " We doubt whether any other single 
regiment in the country could furnish such a ready con- 
tingent to reconstruct a steam-engine, lay a rail track, and 
bend the sails of a man-of-war." On the 1st of August, 
the eighth, after rendering useful service, returned home to 
Boston. 

The first three months' men made an honorable record. 
It were vain to attempt to sketch their services in these 
pages. Still, it cannot be forgotten that " they were the 
first to respond to the call of the president ; the first to 
march through Baltimore to the defence of the Capitol ; 
the first to shed their blood for the maintenance of our 
government; the first to open the new route to Washing- 
ton by way of Annapolis ; the first to land on the soil 
of Virginia, and hold possession of the most important for- 
tress in the Union ; the first to make the voyage of the 
Potomac, and approach the federal city by water, as they 
had been the first to reach it by land. Their record is one 
which will ever redound to the honor of Massachusetts, 
and will be prized among her richest historic treasures. 
The^ men have added new splendor to our revolutionary 
annals ; and the. brave sons who were shot down in the 
streets of Baltimore on the 19th of April, have rendered 
doubly sacred the day when the green sward of Lex- 
ington Common was drenched with the blood of their 
fathers." ^ 

Meantime the war was the only topic discussed at home. 

' Adjutant General's Report, 1861. 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 493 

The fireside, the public press, and the pulpit gave utterance 
to only one voice, — that attuned to Union and Freedom. 
Party spirit vsras soothed, political differences were forgotten, 
and the past vt^as buried with the past. " Patriotic citi- 
zens ! " appealed the leading democratic newspaper in New 
England, " choose you which you will serve, the world's best 
hope, — our noble republican government, — or that bottom- 
less pit, social anarchy. Adjourn other issues until this self- 
preserving issue is settled." ^ On Sunday, the 21st of April, 
thousands assembled in the Boston Music Hall to listen 
to the burning words of Wendell Phillips. "The struggle 
now," said he, " is, not of opinion, but of civilization. 
There can be but two things — compromise or battle. The 
integrity of the North scorns the first ; the general forbear- 
ance of nineteen states has preceded the other. The South 
opened with a cannon shot*, and Lincoln showed himself at 
the door. The war is not of aggression, but of self-defence ; 
and Washington becomes the Thermopylae, of liberty and 
justice. Rather than surrender it, cover every foot of 
ground with a living man. Guard it with a million of 
men, and empty our bank vaults to pay them. Proclaim 
that the North is under the stars and stripes, and no man 
is in chains." The whole commonwealth was alive to the 
necessities of the hour. New companies were constantly 
forming. In every town and village, old and young, rich 
and poor, were united with willing hands and hearts in 
the defence of one grand cause. The spirit of the fore- 
fathers still lingered with the sons. 

On the 3d of May the president called for thirty-nine 
regiments of infantry and one regiment of cavalry, to serve 
for three years, or during the war. At this time there 

» Boston Post, April 16, 1861. 



494 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

were in Massachusetts alone upward of ten thousand men or- 
ganized into companies, who had enlisted as militia. Toward 
the last of the month a general order was issued, fixing the 
quota of the state at six regiments of infantry, to be or- 
ganized as prescribed by the war department. The i^lan 
for the organization was, substantially, as follows. " Each 
regiment was to be composed of ten companies, each com- 
pany to have a captain, two lieutenants, and ninety-eight 
enlisted men. The field and staff ofiScers of a regiment 
were to consist of a colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, adju- 
tant, quartermaster, assistant surgeon, sergeant major, quar- 
termaster sergeant, commissary sergeant, hospital steward, 
two principal musicians, and a band of twenty-four musi- 
cians." ^ This system of regimental organization was ob- 
served during the whole of the war, with the exception 
that an additional surgeon was allowed, and regimental 
bands were discontinued. 

The six regiments selected to complete this requisition 
comprised the first, which left the state on the 15th of 
June, and was the first three years' regiment that reached 
Washington in the war ; the second, which left INIassachu- 
setts on the 8th of July ; the seventh, which left for Wash- 
ington on the 11th of July; the ninth, which was recruited 
on Long Island, in Boston Harbor, and departed on the 
24th of June; the tenth, which was sent forward on the 
25th of July, and the eleventh, which left for Washington 
on the 24th of June. Meantime permission had come to 
send forward ten additional regiments. This caused gen- 
eral satisfaction, and orders were given to organize and 
equip them. 

0\x the 14th of May the governor called an extra session 

» Schouler, Hist, of Mass. in the Civil War, i. 169. 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 495 

of the legislature. In his address he spoke of the nature 
of the war, recapitulated the services of the Massachusetts 
troops, recounted the expenses which had been incurred, 
and briefly alluded to the present condition of the state. 
Up to this time one hundred and twenty-nine new com- 
panies had been organized. He thought that there was 
need for a state camp for military instruction, but which 
encampment " should be confined to those enlisting them- 
selves for an extended term of actual service." The gov- 
ernor's recommendations were approved almost unanimously 
by the legislature. 

The idea of a state camp was subsequently abandoned, 
for after the six regiments first called for by the secretary 
of war had left the state, and ten more had been accepted, 
there was a constant demand, until the close of the war, 
for all the troops that could be raised. Instead of a state 
camp, however, several temporary camps were formed in 
different parts of the state ; such were " Camp Cameron," 
in North Cambridge, " Camp Andrew," in West Roxbury, 
" Camp Old Colony," near Taunton, and others. 

When leave was given to send forward ten more regi- 
ments, in addition to those demanded in the first requi- 
sition of the secretary of war, measures w6re taken to 
consolidate the companies in different parts of the state 
into regiments. The first of these was the twelfth regi- 
ment, familiarly known as the Webster regiment, which 
was recruited at Fort Warren, and left Boston on the 23d 
of July. The thirteenth regiment, of which the fourth 
battalion of rifles formed the nucleus, was recruited at Fort 
Independence, and, under the command of Colonel Samuel 
H. Leonard, left the state on the 30th of July. The four- 
teenth regiment was recruited at Fort Warren by Colonel 



496 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

William B. Greene, and left Boston on the 7th of August. 
This regiment was afterward changed, and during the war 
was known as the first regiment Massachusetts heavj ar- 
tillery. The fifteenth regiment was recruited in the county 
of Worcester, and under the command of Colonel Charles 
Devens, Jr., left the state on the 8th of August. The six- 
teenth regiment was organized in Middlesex county, and 
under the command of Colonel Powell T. Wyman, de- 
parted for the front on the 17th of August. 

The seventeenth regiment was recruited at " Camp Schou- 
ler," Lynnfield, and under the command of Colonel Thomas 
J. C. Amory, departed for the front on the 23d of August. 
The eighteenth regiment, recruited at Readville, was com- 
posed of men from Norfolk, Bristol, and Plymouth counties. 
James Barnes, of Springfield, was commssioned colonel, and 
the regiment left for Washington on the 24th of August. 
The nineteenth regiment, composed 'of Essex county men, 
was recruited at Lynnfield, and under the command of Colo- 
nel Edward W. Hinks, left for Washington on the 28th 
of August. The twentieth regiment was recruited at Readr 
ville, and under the command of Colonel William R. Lee, 
of Roxbury, left for Washington on the 4th of September. 
This was one of the marked regiments of the state. The 
twenty-first regiment was recruited at Worcester ; Augustus 
Morse, of Leominster, was commissioned colonel, and the 
regiment left for Annapolis on the 22d of August. The 
twenty-second regiment was recruited by Senator Wilson, 
and organized at Lynnfield, and left for Washington on the 
8th of October. The twenty-third regiment was recruited 
at Lynnfield, and under the command of Colonel John 
Kurtz, of Boston, left for Annapolis on the 11th of Novem- 
ber. The twenty-fourth regiment was recruited by Colonel 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 497 

Thomas G. Stevenson, at Readville, and left for Annapolis on 
the 9th of December. The twenty-fifth regiment was raised 
in Worcester county, and commanded by Colonel Edward 
Upton, of Fitchburg, left for Annapohs on the 31st of Oc- 
tober. The twenty-sixth regiment was recruited at Lowell, 
and was attached to Major General Butler's division, designed 
to attack New Orleans. Many men in this regiment be- 
longed formerly to the sixth in the three months' service. 
Commanded by Colonel Edward F. Jones, of Pepperell, 
the regiment left for Ship Island, Mississippi, on the 21st 
of November. The twenty-seventh regiment was recruited 
at Springfield, and under the command of Colonel Horace 
C. Lee, left for Annapohs on the 2d of November. The 
twenty-eighth regiment was recruited at Cambridge ; its offi- 
cers and men were mostly of Lish birth, and the regiment 
did not quit the state until January, 1862. The twenty- 
ninth regiment was composed of seven companies, origi- 
nally raised as militia in the. three months' service, and of 
three new companies. Ebenezer W. Peirce, of Freetown, 
was commissioned colonel. 

Besides these regiments of infantry, a battalion of infan- 
try for three years' service was organized, and sent to Fort 
Warren for garrison duty. Two companies of sharpshooters 
were also recruited, in which were many of the best marks- 
men of the commonwealth. The first regiment of cavalry, 
commanded by Colonel Robert Wilhams, left for the seat 
of war in December. The first light battery was recruited 
at Cambridge by Captain Josiah Porter, and left for Wash- 
ington on the 3d of October. The second battery, re- 
cruited at Quincy, by Captain Ormond F. Nims, left for 
Washington on the 8th of August. The third battery, re- 
cruited at Lynnfield, by Captain Dexter H. Follett, left the 
63 



498 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

state on the 7th of October. The fourth battery was re- 
cruited at Lowell, by Captain Charles H. Manning, of Salem, 
and left Boston for Louisiana on the 21st of November. 
The fifth battery was recruited at Lynnfield and at Read- 
ville, by Captain Max. Eppendorff, of New Bedford, and left 
for "Washington, with orders to report to Major General 
McClellan. 

The foregoing regiments and batteries of three years' vol- 
unteers comprised twenty-seven thousand officers and men, 
and were organized, equipped, and sent to the front, all 
within six months. Including the three months' men, the 
inumber of soldiers supplied by Massachusetts from the 16th 
■;day of April to the 31st day of December, was thirty 
thousand seven hundred and thirty-six officers and men. 
This number excludes the six companies raised in Cam- 
bridge, Cambridgeport, Newburyport, Milford, Lawrence, 
and Boston, which joined, in New York, what was called 
the Mozart Regiment, and Sickles's Brigade ; and also the 
two regiments recruited, by General Butler at Lowell and 
Pittsfield, and which were originally known as the Wes- 
tern Bay State and the Eastern Bay State regiments; also 
the three hundred men, known as the Union Coast Guard, 
commanded by Colonel Wardrop, of the third Massachusetts 
regiment. 

On the 21st of October was fought the battle of Ball's 
Bluff. In this engagement, the fifteenth and twentieth 
Massachusetts regiments played a prominent part, and suf- 
fered severely, especially the latter regiment. The news 
of the disastrous defeat carried sorrow into very many 
families of the state, and its effect upon the country was 
equally depressing. At this trying hour. Governor Andrew 
wrote, " Every drop of blood shed by our braves will be 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 499 

avenged, not by the cruelty of savage vrarriors, but by 
the stern resolve of Christians, patriots, and philanthro- 
pists, who soon will understand the barbarism of our foes, 
and will know what price to ask for the lives of those who 
fall." 

In the last month of this memorable year, the legisla- 
ture of Maryland addressed a letter to the governor of 
Massachusetts, which is worthy of being here inserted. 
" The Committee on Militia have instructed me, as their 
chairman, to carry out an order passed by the House, a 
few days since, and referred to them, to confer with you, 
and learn the condition of the widows and orphans, or any 
dependents on those patriots who were so brutally mur- 
dered in the riot of the 19th of April. In obedience to 
that order, it gives me great pleasure to state that the 
loyal people of Maryland, and especially of the city of 
Baltimore, after long suffering, are at length able, through 
a Union legislature, to put themselves in a proper relation 
to the government and the country. In effecting the 
latter, they feel their first duty is to Massachusetts. They 
are anxious to wipe out the foul blot of the Baltimore riot, 
as far as it can be wiped out, and as soon as possible." 
In reply, the governor promised to institute inquiries in 
a proper manner, and added, " The past cannot be for- 
gotten ; but it can be, and will be, forgiven ; and, in the 
good providence of God, I believe that the day is not 
distant when the blood that was shed at Baltimore by 
those martyrs to a cause as holy as any for which sword 
was ever drawn, shall be known to have cemented, in an 
eternal union of sympathy, affection, and nationality, the 
sister states of Maryland and Massachusetts." The legis- 
lature of Maryland appropriated seven thousand dollars, 



500 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and transmitted this amount to the governor of Massachu- 
setts, who caused it to be distributed to the families of those 
who fell, and to the wounded who survived, on the lament- 
able 19th of April. 

The annual election was held on Tuesday, the 5th of 
November. Governor Andrew was re-elected ; the legis- 
lature was largely republican, and unanimous for a vigor- 
ous prosecution of the war. The legislature met on the 
1st of January, 1862. lu his address, the governor " made 
a broad survey of the militar}^ field of observation and 
the part which Massachusetts had taken in the war dining 
the year preceding. The amount of money expended by 
the state for war purposes was three million three hun- 
dred eighty-four thousand six hundred and forty-nine dollars 
and eighty-eight cents, of which there had been reimbursed 
by the United States the sum of nine hundred eighty-seven 
thousand two hundred and sixty-three dollars and fifty-four 
cents, leaving an unpaid balance of about two million five 
hundred thousand dollars. This was exclusive of the amount 
paid by the several cities and towns of the commonwealth 
for the support of the families of soldiers under the act 
passed at the extra session of 1861, which amounted, in the 
aggregate, to about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
which was to be reimbursed from the treasury of the state, 
and raised by direct taxation upon the property in the com- 
monwealth. Upwards of half a million of dollars had been 
expended in the purchase of Enfield rifles, and about twenty- 
four thousand dollars for English infantry equipments. Five 
thousand more Enfield rifles had been contracted for in Eng- 
land ; but the English government had placed an interdict 
against the export of arms and munitions of war to this 
country, which prevented, for a time, the completion of the 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 501 

contract. The governor also referred at considerable length 
to the coast defences of Massachusetts, and the exertions 
which he had made to have them placed in proper con- 
dition." 1 

In the first six months of this j^ear, four thousand five 
hundred and eighty-seven men were recruited, and sent to 
the front ; also a company of light artillery, known as 
Cook's Battery, three companies of unattached cavalry, three 
companies of infantry, to complete the organization of the 
twenty-ninth regiment ; the twenty-eighth regiment, which 
left for South Carolina on the 8th of January ; the sixth 
battery, which sailed for the Department of the Gulf on 
the 7th of February ; the thirty-first regiment, which sailed 
for Fortress Monroe on the 21st of February, and from 
thence to Ship Island, Department of the Gulf ; seven com- 
panies, comprising the Fort Warren battalion, and after- 
ward known as the thirty-second regiment, which left for 
the Army of the Potomac on the 26th of May ; two com- 
panies for the fourteenth regiment, subsequently changed 
to the first Massachusetts heavy artillery, which departed 
for Virginia on the 1st of March. Other single companies 
were mustered into service before midsummer. 

In the spring, the position of the Massachusetts regiments 
and batteries was as follows : The first, seventh, ninth, 
tenth, eleventh, fifteenth, sixteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, 
twentieth, twenty-second, twenty-ninth, and thirty-second 
regiments of infantry, the first, third, and fifth batteries, 
and the two companies of sharpshooters, were in the Army 
of the Potomac ; the second, twelfth, and thirteenth regi- 
ments of infantry were in the Army of Virginia, in the 
upper waters of the Potomac ; the seventeenth, twenty- 

' Schouler, i. 286. 



502 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

first, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, and twenty- 
seventh regiments of infantry, were in General Burnside's 
army, in North Carolina ; the twenty-sixth, thirtieth, and 
thirty-first regiments of infantry, three unattached companies 
of cavalry, the second and sixth companies of light artillery, 
were in the Department of the Gulf, in Louisiana ; tlie 
twenty-eighth regiment of infantry and the first regiment 
of cavalry were in the Army of the South, in South Caro- 
lina ; the first regiment of heavy artillery was stationed 
in forts near Washington, on the Virginia side of the 
Potomac ; the eleventh light artillery was stationed at 
Fortress Monroe ; and the eighth, or Cook's, near Wash- 
ington. Thus, at the beginning of one of the niost event- 
ful years in the history of the war, the soldiers of 
Massachusetts were stationed in array of Joattle — from the 
valley of the Shenandoah to the lowlands of Louisiana. 
In 1861 they were the first to reach the capital, and 
to plant the Union colors upon the soil of Virginia. In 
1862 they were the first to land in North Carolina, and to 
carry the flag into the far-off plains of Mississippi and 
Louisiana. Before the close of this year, they were also 
the first to land on the soil of Texas, and to take pos- 
session of Galveston. 

In July, 1862, the president issued a call for three hun- 
di'ed thousand men, to serve for three years, or to the end 
of the war. A few days later the governor called " for 
fifteen thousand volunteers, to form new regiments, and 
to fill the ranks of those of this commonwealth now at the 
seat of war." At this time, the thirty-second, thirty-third, 
thirty-fourth, and thirty-fifth regiments were being recruited 
in the state. The Army of the Potomac was falling back 
on the James River ; Banks's command held the upper waters 







MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 503 

of the Potomac ; Burnside's army was in North Carolina ; 
Butler's command occupied New Orleans, and other impor- 
tant posts in Louisiana. Except before Richmond, success 
had crowned the Union arms, and never was the war spirit 
more determined and buoyant, and never was recruiting 
more active. 

Within two months from the day when the call for 
fifteen thousand volunteers was issued, upward of four 
thousand men had • been recruited for the old regiments 
at the seat of war, and sent forward. Nine new regiments 
— from the thirty-sixth to the forty-fourth — and two new 
batteries, the ninth and tenth, were recruited and organized 
within the same period. Within three months from the issu- 
ing of the order Massachusetts had furnished her contin- 
gent of fifteen thousand men, to whom, it ought to be said, 
not a dollar of bounty was paid by the commonwealth. 
On the 4th of August the president called for three hun- 
dred thousand more, to serve for nine months. The pro- 
portion assigned to Massachusetts was nineteen thousand 
and ninety men, who were to be raised by " draft, in ac- 
cordance with orders from the war department, and the 
laws of the several states." Massachusetts furnished her 
contingent within a reasonable time by voluntary enlist- 
.ments, and thus a draft was avoided. 

On the lath of September was fought the great battle 
of Antietam, in which the great majority of the Massa- 
chusetts regiments and batteries were engaged. The fatali- 
ty which attended both rank and file was terrible. The 
result of the contest was a victory for the Army of the 
Potomac over the army of General Lee. Dr. Hitchcock, 
of Fitchburg, was requested by Governor Andrew to obtain 
from General McClellan the transfer of the Massachusetts 



504 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

soldiers to the state hospital for treatment. " The con- 
sent of the secretary of war," says Dr. Hitchcock, " and 
the willing word, but non-action, of General McClellan, 
failed in the fullest' sense to realize the urgent request 
of Governor Andrew in reference to our men. Many of 
our soldiers were, however, brought home from that bloody 
field, and tenderly cared for in the hospitals of the state 
and at the homes of the men." In the fall election of this 
year. Governor Andrew was re-chosen by a very large 
majority. 

At length the quota of the state was filled. In less than 
five months upward of thirty-three thousand men had been 
recruited, and sent to the war. The nine months' regi- 
ments departed as follows : The third regiment sailed for 
North Carolina, under Colonel Silas P. Richmond, on the 
3d of October ; the fourth regiment, under Colonel Henry 
Walker, left on the 17th of December to join General 
Banks at New Orleans ; the fifth ^^egiment, under Colonel 
George H. Peirson, sailed for North Carolina about the 
same time ; the sixth regiment, under Colonel Albert S. 
Follansbee, left for Washington on the 1st of September ; 
the eighth regiment, under Colonel Frederick J. Coffin, sailed 
on the 7th of November for Newbern, North Carolina. 
All of the preceding regiments had served iii the three 
months' term in the beginning of the war. The forty- 
second regiment, under Colonel Isaac S. Burrill, left on 
the 19th of November for New Orleans ; the forty-third 
regiment, under Colonel Charles L. Holbrook, on the 24th 
of October sailed for North Carolina ; the forty-fourth 
regiment, under Colonel Francis L. Lee, sailed on the 22d 
of October for North Carolina ; the forty-fifth regiment, 
under Colonel Charles R. Codman, sailed on the 24th of 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 505 

October for North Carolina ; the forty-sixth regiment, under 
Colonel George Bowler, also sailed for North Carolina ; the 
forty-seventh regiment, under Colonel Lucius B. Marsh, 
left on the ^Oth of November, to report to General Banks 
at New Orleans ; the forty-eighth regiment, under Colonel 
Eben F. Stowe, left in December for the Department of 
the Gulf; the forty -ninth regiment, under Colonel Wil- 
liam F. Bartlett, left on the 21st of November for New 
Orleans ; the fiftieth regiment, under Colonel Ca-rlos P. Mes- 
ser, sailed on the 19th of November, with orders to report 
to General Banks ; the fifty-first regiment, under Colonel 
Augustus B. R. Sprague, left on the 11th of November for 
North Carolina ; the fifty -second regiment, under Colonel 
Henry A. Greenleaf, sailed on the 19th of November, to 
report to General Banks at New Orleans ; the fifty-third 
regiment, under Colonel John W. Kimball, sailed on the 
18th of November for New Orleans. The eleventh light 
battery, under command of Captain Edward J. Jones, left 
on the 3d of October, to report to the Adjutant General 
at Washington. This was the only nine months' battery 
raised in the state. 

At the close of the year 1862, Massachusetts had in 
active service fifty-three regiments of infantry, one regi- 
ment and three unattached companies of cavalry, twelve 
companies of light artillery, two companies of sharpshooters, 
and three companies of heavy artillery. The number of 
three years' volunteers who had entered the service from 
Massachusetts from the beginning of the war to Decera- 
cember 31, 1862, was forty-six thousand nine hundred and 
twenty ; number of nine months' men, nineteen thousand 
and eighty ; number of three months' men, three thousand 
seven hundred and thirty-six, — making a total of sixty- 
64 



506 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

nine thousand seven hundred and thirty-six men. "Within 
the same period of time, the state also furnished thirteen 
thousand six hundred and eighteen men for the navy. 

The civil war had now lasted two years, without any very 
decisive results. On the 22d of September the president 
had issued the proclamation of freedom to the enslaved, and 
before the close of the year 1863, what had been prophe- 
sied by earnest men became a truth — " Africa was car- 
ried into the war," the black man was made a soldier, and 
for the first time the flag symbolized liberty for all men. 
Massachusetts recruited, and sent forth to the war, two 
regiments of colored troops, the first that were organized 
in any of the loyal states. 

On the 1st of January, 1863, only the Rappahannock sepa- 
rated the Army of the Potomac from the rebel forces. Major 
General Joseph Hooker had succeeded Generals McClellan 
and Burnside in command, and great hopes of his success 
were entertained. Hooker was a special favorite of Gov- 
ernor Andrew, and of the soldiers of Massachusetts. The 
governor wrote him a letter on the 26th of January, con- 
gratulating him upon his appointment, and advising him 
to go round and speak a few kind words to " every single 
regiment, — every one. Tell the boys that all have a 
country ; all will hereafter have a history ; and that a 
hundred years hence, the children by the firesides will 
be charmed by the stories their mothers will tell them of 
th« valor and manliness of the humblest private who served 
well or died bravely." The letter concludes, " I am anti- 
slavery ; but may I say, that at first I would not allude 
to the proclamation. When the secretary of war shall, by 
general order, promulgate it, which will be done shortly, 
let it be read at the head of every regiment ; and I would 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 507 

then, by word and deed, make it as efficient and vital as 
the bayonet of the soldier and the voice of the commander. 
You can immediately and strongly commit every officer to 
the policy and orders of his government ; and the men will 
easily see. that while their wives give up their husbands, 
their fathers give up their sons, to the hazards of war, 
it is only the merest justice that rebel masters should yield 
up their slaves, and not compel them to be rebels too. You 
will, I know, general, pardon, and ascribe to my friendly 
interest and my confidence in your chivalrous character, 
the apparent freedom of this note and its suggestions." 

Mention has just been made of the colored regiments. 
Authority to recruit a colored regiment in Massachusetts 
was received from the secretary of war by an order dated 
January 26, 1863. The regiment was filled to the maxi- 
mum on the 14th of May, and soon afterward a second 
regiment was organized. These two colored regiments were 
designated the fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth. Robert G. Shaw, 
a captain in the. second regiment of Massachusetts infantry, 
was commissioned colonel of the fifty-fourth. On the 28th 
of May the regiment left Boston for South Carolina, and 
reached Tlilton Head on the 3d of June. On the 18th 
of July it led the advance at Fort Wagner, in M^hich 
engagement Colonel Shaw was killed. The fifty-fifth regi- 
ment left Boston on the 21st of June for North Carolina. 

About this time General Banks was in command of the 
Department of the Gulf, General Hooker, of the Army 
of the Potomac, and General Foster, of North Carolina. 
All of the nine months' regiments, except the sixth, were 
in the Department of the Gulf, and North Carolina. The 
sixth regiment was in Virginia. In July, General Banks 
captured Port Hudson, on the Mississippi ; and on the 2d 



508 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and 3d days of the same month, the Army of the Potomac, 
having, by forced marches, advanced into Pennsylvania, met 
the rebels at Gettysburg, and gained a most important vic- 
tory. On the 4th, General Grant captured Vicksburg ; and 
thus, within four days, occurred the three most important 
events which had happened during the war. The enemy 
were discouraged, while the Union army gained fresh 
strength and valor. In June, General Meade superseded 
General Hooker in command of the Army of the Potomac. 

Something must here be said relative to the services of 
the nine months' regiments from the time they left the 
state until their return. First, of the third regiment, which 
started on the 11th of December, 1862, from Newbern, 
Korth Carolina, on the " expedition to Goldsborough," and 
fought in the battles of Kinston, Whitehall, and Golds- 
borough. On the 6th of March, the regiment having been 
attached to Colonel Jourdan's brigade, joined the expedi- 
tion into Jones and Onslow counties; on the 8th of April, 
met the enemy at Blount's Creek ; and on the 16th, having 
joined a column under General Prince, forced the rebels 
to evacuate their position in front of Washington, North Car- 
olina. On the 26th of June it was mustered out of service 
at Boston. 

The fourth regiment reached New Orleans on the 13th 
of February, 1863, and departed for Baton Rouge on the 
7th of March. It took part in the expedition against 
Port Hudson. In the latter part of April, the regiment 
was doing guard duty at Brashear City ; remained there 
until the last of May, and then proceeded to Port Hud- 
son, to help in the siege. In the assault on the 14th of 
June the regiment lost sixty-eight killed and wounded. 
After the surrender of the place, the regiment performed 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 509 

garrison duty until the 4th of August. On the 24th of the 
same month it was mustered out, having served over eleven 
months at the seat of war. 

The fifth regiment proceeded from Boston direct to New- 
bern, arriving there on the 30th of October, 1862. On 
the 2d of November, under command of General Foster, 
it marched to Williamston, and on the 14th fought the 
rebels, and drove them toward Kinston. On the loth of 
December the regiment took part in the battle of White- 
hall, and on the 21st, General Foster issued an order direct- 
ing the regiment to inscribe on its banners the names of the 
battles of Kinston, Whitehall, and Goldsborough. From 
the 21st of January until the 13th of March the regiment 
was employed on fortifications. On the 8th of April the 
regiment joined an expedition to Washington, North Caro- 
lina, and was mustered out on the 2d of July, 1863. 

The sixth regiment first experienced war at Suffolk, Vir- 
ginia, on the 17th of September, 1862. On the 29th of the 
following January it met the enemy near Blackwater, and 
fought for two hours. On the 11th of April, Suffolk was be- 
sieged by a large force under General Longstreet, and for 
twenty-three days a continual skirmishing was kept up, dur- 
ing which the regiment was severely exposed. From the 
loth of May until the 26th, the regiment saw active duty, 
then returned to Lowell, and was mustered out of service on 
the 3d of June. The second campaign of the Massachusetts 
sixth was as honorable and remarkable as its first. 

The eighth regiment, having arrived at Newbern, was 
assigned to the second brigade, first division. From this 
time onward, until the last of March, the regiment per- 
formed garrison duty. In April, it met and engaged the 
enemy at Blount's Creek ; during May it was encamped. 



510 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and on the 29th of July it returned to the state, and 
on the 7th of the month following was mustered out. 

The forty-second regiment arrived at New Orleans on 
the 16th of December, 1862. In the Galveston expedi- 
tion, Colonel Burrill, with companies D, G, and F of 
the regiment, were marched off prisoners of war. The 
prisoners vrere sent to Houston ; on the 22d of January 
they were paroled and sent down to the Union lines. Mean- 
time the seven remaining companies were attached to the 
second brigade, and performed valuable service. On the 
21st of June the regiment moved to New Orleans ; from 
the 14th to the 29th of July it was on picket duty, on 
the line of the Opelousas Railroad, and on the 20th of 
August it was mustered out at Readville. 

The forty-third regiment reached Newbern about the 
1st of November ; was ordered to, and remained at Beau- 
fort, until the 4th of March ; played a prominent part in 
the battles of Kinston and Goldsborough, and was also 
under fire in the battle of Whitehall. On the 11th of 
April the regiment proceeded to the blockade on Palmico 
River. On the 7th of July some disatisfaction arose on 
account of the expiration of the term of service. Gen- 
eral Naglee issued an order, leaving it optional with the 
men to go to the front or to return home. All but two 
hundred and three officers and men voted to return. They 
came home only to receive a cold welcome. Those who 
remained proceeded to Sandy Hook, Maryland, where they 
did provost duty. They were mustered out in Boston on 
the 23d of July. 

The forty-fourth regiment arrived at Newbern on the 
26th of October, 1862, and on the 30th started with the 
brigade upon the Tarborough e?:pedition. It was present 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 511 

in the battle of Kinston and of Whiteliall ; also shared 
in the various expeditions sent out from Newbern. ' In 
April, 1863, it took part in the siege of Washington, North 
Carolina ; did provost duty at Newbern until the 6th of 
June, and then, returning to Readville, was mustered out 
on the 18th of the same month. The forty-fifth regiment 
reached Newbern on the 5th of November, and was in camp 
until the 12th of December. Eight companies marched in 
the expedition to Goldsborough, and the whole regiment 
shared in the battles of Kinston and Whitehall. After 
performing other duties of importance, the regiment was 
mustered out at Readville on the 8th of July. 

The forty-sixth regiment arrived at Newbern on the 15th 
of November, and remained in camp until the organization 
of the Goldsborough expedition, in which it took part. For 
a long time afterward the regiment was engaged upon 
fortifications. On the 21st of July the regiment was mus- 
tered out at Springfield. The forty-seventh regiment was 
in the Department of the Gulf. It arrived at New Orleans 
on the 1st of July, 1863, and during its whole term of ser- 
vice was engaged in the defences. On the 1st of September 
it was mustered out at Readville. The forty-eighth regi- 
ment arrived at New Orleans on the 1st of February, and 
was sent to Baton Rouge. The regiment fought valiantly 
in the attack on Port Hudson, arid shared all the exposures 
and hardships of the siege. On the 13th of July it took 
part in the engagement at Donaldsville, and on the 3d of 
September, having returned home, it was mustered out of 
service. 

The forty-ninth regiment arrived at New Orleans about 
the 3d of February, and was also sent to Baton Rouge. 
On the 21st of May it participated in the battle of Plains 



512 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Store, and later was in the front supporting batteries dur- 
ing the entire investment of Port Hudson. On the 21st 
of August the regiment reached home, and was mustered 
out. Its record is worthy of the revolutionary fame of 
Berkshire men. -The fiftieth regiment arrived at New 
Orleans on the 27th of January, and was sent to Baton 
Rouge. In May it was ordered to engage in the assault 
on Port Hudson ; it did not, however, participate in the 
fight. It did garrison duty within the fortifications until 
.the 29th of July ; and then, returning home, was mustered 
out at Wenham on the 21th of August. 

The fifty-first regiment arrived at Beaufort, North Caro- 
lina, on the 30th of November, and on the 11th of Decem- 
ber took part in the Goldsborough expedition. It met the 
enemy at White Oak Creek on the 17th of January, and 
drove them back. On the 28th of June the regiment re- 
ported to General Dix, who was about to move upon Rich- 
mond ; but he ordered it back to Fortress Monroe. On 
the 6th of July the regiment was ordered to Maryland 
Heights ; and on the 27th, having returned home, was mus- 
tered out of service at Worcester. The fifty-second regi- 
ment arrived at New Orleans in December, 1862, and until 
the following March was stationed at Baton Rouge. It 
took a prominent part in the Port Hudson campaign, and 
was mustered out of service on the 14th of August. The 
fifty-third arrived at New Orleans on the 30th of January ; 
on the 6th of March was ordered to Baton Rouge, and 
subsequently fought bravely in the assault on Port Hud- 
son. Of the three hundred officers and men who joined 
in the assault on the 13th of June, seven officers and 
seventy-nine men were killed and wounded. On the 2d 
of September the regiment was mustered out at Fitchburg. 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 513 

The light battery, raised and commanded by Captain Ed- 
ward J. Jones, was ordered to Washington on the 3d of 
October, 1862. It performed important duty at Fort Lyons, 
in Virginia, and in November made several reconnoissances 
to Gainesville, Manassas, and in the direction of Warring- 
ton. The battery continued on picket and scouting duty 
until the 18th of April, and was then ordered to report 
to Colonel Sickles, at Upton's Hill, Virginia. In May, 1863, 
it returned to Boston, and was mustered out of service. 
The following statistics will further explain the record of 
the nine months' regiments : Eight hundred and nineteen 
died from wounds received, and illness ; one hundred and 
five were killed in battle ; ten hundred and thirty-eight 
were discharged ; thirty-eight were held prisoners of war, 
and seven hundred and eighty-five were branded as desert- 
ers. It ought to be said, to the honor of our people, that 
nearly all the desertions took place before the regiments 
left the state, and that very few of the men belonged to 
Massachusetts. 

On the evening of the 14th of July, 1863, a body of 
rioters, hostile to the Union, and sympathizing with the 
rebel cause, assembled in Boston, in the neighborhood of 
the armory of the eleventh battery, in Cooper Street. The 
rioters began to attack the armorj'' with stones and other 
missiles. Toward midnight, the mob increased in violence 
and numbers ; but the soldiers, in their comparatively small 
room, with guns loaded, awaited the assault without trepida- 
tion. At length the mob wearied of throwing stones, and 
made a concerted movement to force open the doors, and 
to gain posssession of the few pieces of cannon inside. 
The word was given to fire! Several of the rioters 
were killed, and many more were wounded. The one vol- 
65 



614 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ley in Cooper Street ended the riot, although noisy demon- 
strations were made elsewhere. 

On the 3d of September the democratic party held 
a state convention at Worcester. The convention was very 
large, and included all those who were opposed to the 
national administra,tion, and the stei-n and unfaltering policy 
of Governor Andrew. Judge J. G. Abbott, one of the 
speakers, remarked, " Mr. Lincoln has said that silence on 
matters pertaining to our country, though not a crime, is 
an offence. I propose, for once, to be obedient to the com- 
mands of his excellency the President of the United States. 
I will agree to be imprisoned or banished if I do keep 
silence ; and, if I am, I'll speak, so help me God." Dr. 
George B. Loring, of Salem, acknowledged himself to be 
a true democrat ; he was for state rights, and, of course, 
opposed to the administration. " This administration," he 
said, " will pass away as the idle wind. Its name will 
live only in history as an administration which subverted 
the rights of the people, until they rose in their might and 
overthrew it." The speaker's prophetic vision was not very 
remarkable upon this occasion. In the afternoon the con- 
vention declared Henry W. Paine, of Cambridge, its nomi- 
nee for governor. " I find," said Mr. Paine, in his speech 
accepting the nomination, " the record of the democracy 
has pledged that party, from its earliest existence, to the 
perpetuity of the Constitution, of the Union, and of the 
rights of the states." The resolutions passed by the con- 
vention were a general indictment against the national ad- 
ministration. 

On the 24th of September the republican convention 
met at Worcester, and nominated a state ticket, with John A. 
Andrew at its head, with entire unanimity. The speeches 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 515 

and resolutions on this occasion " breathed but one senti- 
ment, and expressed but one purpose, which was to sus- 
tain the national and state governments, and to carry on 
the war with undiminished vigor until peace was conquered, 
and human slavery forever rooted out of the land." The 
election took place in November. John A. Andrew received 
upward of seventy thousand votes, and Henry W. Paine, 
upward of twenty-nine thousand votes. Governor Andrew's 
majority was forty-one 'thousand one hundred and ninety- 
nine, — the largest he had received in any election. 

On the 17th of October the president called for three 
hundred thousand volunteers. The contingent of Massa- 
chusetts was fifteen thousand one hundred and twenty-six. 
During the year ending with December, 1863, eleven thou- 
sand five hundred and thirty-eight volunteers for three years' 
service were mustered in ; also three thousand six hundred 
and eighty-six for the naval service. The total number of 
men furnished by the commonwealth for both arms of the 
service up to December 30, 1863, was one hundred and 
one thousand two hundred and thirty-six. 

On the 1st of January, 1864, Massachusetts had in the 
service of the United States thirty-six regiments of infantry, 
three regiments of cavalry, two regiments of heavy artillery, 
one battalion and eight unattached companies of heavy ar- 
tillery, twelve batteries of light artillery, and two compa-^ 
nies of sharpshooters. In his address before the legislature, 
on the 8th of January, Governor Andrew spoke at full 
length of the military affairs of the commonwealth. He 
closed in the following words : — 

" The heart swells with unwonted emotion when we 
remember our sons and brothers, whose constant valor has 
sustained on the field, during nearly three years of war, 



516 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the cause of our country, of civilization, and liberty. Our 
volunteers have represented Massachusetts, during the year 
just ended, on almost every field, and in every department 
of the army where our flag has been unfurled — at Chan- 
cellorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, and Fort 
Wagner ; at Chickamauga, Knoxville, and Chattanooga ; 
under Hooker, Meade, Banks, Gilmore, Rosecrans, Burn- 
side, and Grant. In every scene of danger and of duty — 
along the Atlantic and the Gulf; on the Tennessee, the 
Cumberland, the Mississippi, and the Rio Grande ; under 
Dupont, Dahlgren, Foote, Farragut, and Porter — the sons 
of Massachusetts have borne their part, and paid the debt 
of patriotism and valor. Ubiquitous as the stock they de- 
scend from, national in their opinions and universal in their 
sympathies, they have fought shoulder to shoulder with 
men of all nations, and of every extraction. On the ocean, 
on the rivers, on the land, on the heights where they thun- 
dered down from the clouds of Lookout Mountain the 
defiance of the skies, they have graven with their swords a 
record imperishable. 

• *' The Muse herself demands the lapse of silent years 
to soften, by the influences of time, her too keen and poig- 
nant realization of the scenes of war, — : the pathos, the hero- 
ism, the fierce joy, the grief, of battle. But, daring the ages 
to come, she will brood over their memory ; into the hearts 
of her consecrated priests will breathe the inspirations of 
lofty and undying beauty, sublimity, and truth, in all the 
glowing forms of speech, of literature, and plastic art. By 
the homely traditions of the fireside ; by the headstones in 
the churchyard, consecrated to those whose forms repose far 
off in rude graves by the Rappahannock, or sleep beneath 
the sea, — embalmed in the memories of succeeding genera- 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. ■ 517 

tions of parents and children, the heroic dead will live on 
in immortal youth. By their names, their character, their 
service, their fate, their glory, they cannot fail. 

" The Edict of Nantes, maintaining the religious liberty 
of the Huguenots, gave lustre to the fame of Henry the 
Great, whose name will gild the pages of philosophic history 
after mankind may have, forgotten the martial prowess and the 
white plume of Navarre. The Great Proclamation of Liberty 
will lift the ruler who uttered it, oar nation and our age, 
above all vulgar destiny. The bell which rang out the 
Declaration of Independence, has found at last a voice ar- 
ticulate to 'proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto 
all the inhabitants thereof.' It has been heard across oceans, 
and has modified the sentiments of cabinets and kings. The 
people of the Old World have heard it, and their hearts 
stopped to catch the last vespers of its echoes. The wait- 
ing continent has heard it, and already foresees the fulfilled 
prophecy, when she will sit 'redeemed, regenerated, and 
disinthralled by the irresistible genius of universal emanci- 
pation.' ". 

During the first six months of the year the following new 
regiments were recruited and sent to the front. The fifty- 
sixth. Colonel Charles E. Griswold, left the state on the 
20th of March. The fifty-seventh. Colonel William F. Bart- 
lett, left on the 18th of April. The fifty-eighth, under com- 
mand of Lieutenant Colonel John C. Whiton, left on the 
28th of April. The fifty-ninth. Colonel Jacob P. Gould, 
left on the 26th of April. All of the foregoing regiments 
joined the Army of the Potomac previous to its advance 
toward Richmond. Two new regiments of cavalry were 
also organized ; the fourth, Colonel Arnold A. Rand, and 
the fifth (colored), Colonel Henry S. Russell. 



518 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

The end of the war was fast approachmg. General Grant, 
with the rank of lieutenant general, was in command of the 
Union army. Already the last grand campaign had begun. 
The plan of the commander could not fail to insure victory 
in the end, and never was a plan better devised. According 
to this plan, the great power of the loyal states was to be 
concentrated in one vast movement, which was to close in, 
compress, and annihilate the enemy. . About the middle of 
May, Lee and the rebel army of Virginia were driven by 
the Army of the Potomac within the fortifications of Rich- 
mond, to which Grant, aided by the Army of the James, 
now laid siege. Meantime General Sherman, having cap- 
tured Atlanta, was preparing for his grand march through 
Georgia to the sea. It required all of Lee's strength to 
withstand Grant's movements, while the former could spare 
no force to prevent the advance of Sherman. Thus stood 
the contending forces on the 1st of July, 1864. . 

The year 1864 was the presidential year. At the re- 
publican convention, held at Baltimore in the autumn, 
Abraham Lincoln was nominated for re-election for presi- 
dent of the United States, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennes- 
see, was nominated for vice president. The democratic 
convention, which met at Chicago, nominated Major General 
George B. McClellan for president, and George H. Pendle- 
ton, of Ohio, for vice president. The republican state con- 
vention met at Worcester on the 15th of September, and 
nominated Governor Andrew for re-election. The demo- 
cratic state convention met in Faneuil Hall on the 21st 
of September, and nominated the same gentlemen for state 
officers who had been the candidates of the party the year 
before. The election took place on the second Tuesday 
of November, with the following result. Abraham Lin- 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 519 

coin received one hundred and twenty-six thousand seven 
hundred and forty-two votes ; George B. McClellan forty- 
eight thousand seven hundred and forty-five : Lincoln's 
majority was seventy-seven thousand nine hundred and 
ninety-seven. John A. Andrew received for governor one 
hundred and twenty-five thousand two hundred and eighty- 
one ; Henry W. Paine, forty-nine thousand one hundred 
and ninety. Governor Andrew's majority was seventy-six 
thousand and ninety-one. 

The legislature assembled at the State House, in Boston, 
on the 4th of January, 1865. In his inaugural address 
the governor said, " By the blessing of Almighty God, the 
people of Massachiisetts witness to-day the inauguration of 
a new political year, under circumstances in which the vic- 
tories of the pasti blended with bright and well-grounded 
hope ■ for the future, assure the early return of national 
peace, the firm establishment of liberty, and auspicate the 
lasting glory of the republic." In closing his address, the 
governor paid an eloquent tribute to the services of the sol- 
diers who had gone forth to battle for the Union. " In 
the vestibule of the Capitol of the commonwealth," he said, 
" you pass to this hall of your deliberations beneath a hun- 
dred battle flags, war-worn, begrimed, and bloody. They 
are sad but proud memorials of the transcendent crime of 
the rebellion, the curse of slavery, the elastic energy of 
a free commonwealth, the glory and the grief of war. There 
has been no loyal army, the shout of whose victory has 
not drowned the dying sigh of a son of Massachusetts. 
There has been no victory gained which her blood has not 
helped to win. Since the war began, four hundred and 
thirty-four officers whose commissions bore our seal, or who 
were promoted by» the president to higher than regimental 



520 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

commands, have tasted death in the defence of their country's 
flag. The names of nine general officers, sixteen colonels, 
seventeen lieutenant colonels, twenty majors, six surgeons, 
nine assistant surgeons, two chaplains, one hundred and 
ten captains, and two hundred and forty-five lieutenants, 
illustrate their roll of honor ; nor will the history be deemed 
complete, nor our duty done, until . the fate and fame of 
every man, to the humblest private of them all, shall have 
been inscribed upon the records of this Capitol, there to 
remain, I trust, until the earth and sea shall give up 
their dead ; and thus shall the Capitol itself become for 
every soldier-son of ours a monument. And whatever may 
hereafter tide, or befall me or' mine, may the God of our 
fathers preserve our commonwealth." 

Whilst these words were being uttered, the contending 
forces were preparing for a final struggle. The Army of 
the Potomac was in the trenches before Petersburg and 
Richmond, and General Lee held the rebel capital ; Sher- 
man was marching to the sea, and Thomas was behind his 
breastworks in front of Nashville. On the 3d of April 
Governor Andrew received the folio w*ing telegram from the 
secretary of war : " The following telegram from the presi- 
dent, announcing the evacuation of Petersburg, and probably 
of Richmond, has just been received by this department: 
* City Point, Virginia, 3d, 8.30 A. M. This morning Gen- 
eral Grant reports Petersburg evacuated, and he is confi- 
dent Richmond also is. He is pushing forward to cut off, 
if possible, the retreating army.' — Later. It appears by the 
despatch of General Weitzell, just received by the depart- 
ment, that our forces under his command are in Richmond, 
having taken it at 8.35 this morning." The governor tele- 
graphed to Mr. Stanton : "I give you joy on these tri- 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 521 

umphant victories. Our people, by a common impulse, 
abandoned business to-day for thanksgiving and rejoicing. 
The colored men, received last, got in first, and thus is the 
Scripture fulfilled." The last sentence in the telegram re- 
fers to the colored division in Weitzell's corps, which was 
said to be the first infantry to enter Richmond. 

On the 16th of January Edward Everett died, in the 
city of Boston, after a brief illness. The departure of this 
most distinguished man from those well-known scenes which 
he had honored by his presence, caused a profound sensa- 
tion in all parts of the country. The death of Mr. Ever- 
ett was properly noticed, not only in the commonwealth 
to which he belonged, but elsewhere by the various literary, 
scientific, and historical associations. 

Massachusetts received the tidings of the fall of Richmond, 
and the retreat of General Lee, with the wildest demon- 
strations of delight. In Boston, especially, the streets were 
thronged with excited people. After the first outburst of 
enthusiasm, a large meeting was organized in the Merchants' 
Exchange, which was conducted with prayer and other ap- 
propriate exercises. About one o'clock all the bells in the 
city were rung, and a salute was fired on the Common. 
There was a procession of market-men in the afternoon, 
and in the evening the whole city was brilliantly illumi- 
nated. In Cambridge, a large meeting was held in the 
evening, the bells rang, and rockets and other fireworks 
added to the general joy of the occasion. In Charlestown, 
also, and in Roxbury, the same grand display was made ; 
and, indeed, it would be difficult to name a city, town, 
or village in the state to which the excitement and enthu- 
siasm did not extend. On the 4th of April, the governor, 
in a special message to the Senate and Hou^e of Repre- 



622 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

sentatives, announced the successes of our armies, and the 
certain downfall of the rebellion. Five days later Gen- 
eral Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to 
General Grant, thus virtually closing the war. 

Not yet had- the rejoicings ceased, vehen the telegraph 
bore tidings of the greatest personal calamity that ever 
befell a nation. Never were the American people so put to 
grief as when it was made known that on Saturday, the 
15th of April, Abraham Lincoln had died by the hand 
of an assassin. " In the midst of exultations of recent 
and repeated victory," said the governor, in a message 
to the legislature, " in the midst of the highest hopes of 
the most auspicious omens, in the hour of universal joy, 
the nation passed at once, by an inscrutable and mysterious 
providence, into the valley of the shadow of death. As- 
sembled, while the cloud is yet thick upon our eyes, and 
the hearts of men are oppressed by a sense of a strange 
dismay, it has become my mournful duty to record, by 
formal and official announcement to the legislative depart- 
ment of the commonwealth, this calamitous and distressing 
event." Appropriate honors were paid by all departments 
of the government to the memory of the martyred pres- 
ident. The public buildings, and many of the private 
residences in the state, were arrayed in the emblems of 
mourning. Likewise the public voice gave eloquent token 
of the grief of the public heart. 

On the 17th of June, the monument erected in Lowell 
in honor of the first martyrs in the rebellion was inaugu- 
rated. It was a memorable occasion. The governor and 
staff, the heads of departments, and members of the legis- 
lature, were present. There was a long procession, escorted 
by a company of cavalry and the old sixth regiment of 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 523 

infantry ; and the governor, from the balcony of the Merri- 
mack House, delivered the oration. It was described as 
" one of his most able efforts, in which he took a patriotic 
and statesman-like view of the commencement, progress, and 
termination of the rebellion." 

On the 21st of June a meeting of citizens was held 
in Faneuil Hall to consider the question of the reorganiza- 
tion of the rebel states. Theophilus Parsons, of Cambridge, 
presided ; and speeches were made by him, and by Richard 
H. Dana, Jr., Henry Ward Beecher, George B. Loring, and 
Senator S. C. Pomeroy, of Kansas. Letters were read from 
the governor, Alexander H. Bullock, of Worcester, Charles 
G. Loring, Alexander H. Rice, and Samuel Hooper, of Bos- 
ton. There is a passage in Governor Andrew's letter, which 
may here be quoted : " It is not my belief," he writes, " that 
in any one of the seceding states the time has yet arrived 
when its state government can be re-established with safety. 
Whether the white man only votes, or whether the colored 
man also votes, I regard the movement at the present moment 
with inexpressible concern. It has 'taken us four years to 
conquer the rebels in all of them. I would not run 
any risk, great or small, of allowing the same class of men 
to beat us by an appeal to fraud. They appealed to force, 
and were conquered. Let us hold on to the power we now 
have to do right, to protect the loyal, to rebuild the state, to 
re-establish society, to secure the liberty of the people and 
the safety of the Union. Let it be used with parental 
kindness and in the temper of conciliation." 

Commemoration Day at Cambridge, in honor of the patriot 
heroes of Harvard College, on the 21st of July, was one 
of the most memorable events in the annals of that ancient 
seat of learning. It was truly a reunion of the sons of 



524 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Harvard. Many of the young men present, who had gradu- 
ated a few years before, bore on their shoulders the insignia 
of generals and colonels, while some appeared with only 
one arm or one leg. At eleven o'clock a procession was 
formed, which marched to the Unitarian Church, where 
the exercises began. After the services in the church, 
the procession proceeded to a large pavilion which had 
been erected in the rear of Harvard Hall, and there par- 
took of an elegant and substantial dinner. Among those 
whose eloquence contributed to swell the intellectual feast, 
were General Barlow, General Devens, Governor Andrew, 
President Hill, Major General Meade, U. S. A., Ralph Waldo 
Emerson, Rear Admiral Davis, U. S. N., Major General 
Force, of Ohio, and others. Original songs and poems 
were furnished by Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell 
Lowell, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. Regarded as a whole, 
it was one of the most remarkable gatherings of educated 
and renowned citizens ever assembled on this continent. 

On the 15th of September the republican state convention 
met at Worcester. The war being over. Governor Andrew 
had signified his determination not again to be a candidate for 
re-election, and the convention, therefore, unanimously nomi- 
nated Alexander H. Bullock, of Worcester, for governor, 
and William Claflin, of Newton, for lieutenant governor. 
The democratic convention met at Worcester on the 29th 
of September, and nominated Darius N. Couch, of Taun- 
ton, for governor, and Thomas F. Plunkett, of Pittsfield, 
for lieutenant governor. The election took place on the 
7th of November, and resulted in a complete triumph of the 
republican party. 

On the 22d of December the governor received the flags 
of the regiments with all the honors which the cause they 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 525 

symbolized, and the battle-fields over which they had 
waved, made proper. On that day a procession of the 
veteran officers and men — each command carrying its tatr 
tered flags — moved through the streets of Boston. Busi- 
ness was suspended, the people thronged the sidewalks, 
nearly every house and store displayed banners, and the 
air resounded with cheers, and music, and martial salutes. 
Upon reaching the State House, the procession halted, and 
the color-bearers of each command were stationed upon 
the steps leading to the Capitol. In a few graceful and 
well-chosen words, General Couch formally returned the 
colors of the Massachusetts volunteers to the state. The 
governor, in a beautiful response, received the relics in behalf 
of the people and the commonwealth. 

No record of the part taken by Massachusetts in the 
civil war would be complete without some mention being 
made of those who, remaining at home, devoted their whole 
time for the comfort of the soldiers and the alleviation of 
their sufferings. The New England Women's Auxiliary 
Association was the name given to the north-eastern branch 
of the United States Sanitary Commission. It was or- 
ganized in December, 1861, and continued its work until 
July, 1865. The work of this noble association was done 
wholly by volunteers, almost entirely ladies, who, entering 
into it at the earliest period, accepted the great increase of 
labor to the end. Neither should the grand and generous ser- 
vices of Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis, and of Miss Abby May 
pass unrecorded; nor the work of the women outside of Bos- 
ton be forgotten. Without the aid of such unselfish de- 
votion and benevolence, the rebellion could never have 
been subdued. Massachusetts sent one hundred and fifty- 
nine thousand one hundred and sixty-five of her sons to 



626 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the war ; as many of her daughters proved heroines at 
home in the hxbor of well-doing. 

On the 5th of Januarj^ 1866, Governor Andrew delivered 
his valedictory address to the legislature. He said, in clos- 
ing, — 

" In sympathy with the heart and hope of the nation, 
Massachusetts will abide by her faith. Undisturbed by the 
impatient, undismayed by delay, ' with malice toward none, 
with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives 
us to see the right,' she will persevere. Impartial, demo- 
cratic, constitutional liberty is invincible ; the rights of 
human nature are sacred, maintained by confessors, and 
heroes, and martyrs, reposing on the sure foundation of 
the commandments of God. 

' Through plots and counterplots : 
Through gain and loss ; through glory and disgrace ; 
Along the plains where passionate discord rears 
Eternal Babel, — still the holy stream 
Of human happiness glides on ! 



There is One above 
Sways the harmonious mystery of the world.' 

" Gentlemen, for all the favors, unmerited and unmeas- 
ured, which I have enjoyed from the people of Massachu- 
setts ; from the counsellors, magistrates, officers, with whom 
I have been surrounded in the government, and from the 
members of five successive legislatures, — there is no return 
in my power to render, but the sincere acknowledgments of 
a grateful heart." • 

On the Gth of January, His Excellency Alexander H. 
Bullock delivered his inaugural address, and Governor An- 
drew passed out from the portals of the Capitol a private 
citizen. With the end of the latter's administration closed 



MASSACHUSETTS IN THE CIVIL WAR. 527 

the drama of the civil war. His fellow-citizens knew how 
well he served his country, and upheld the dignity and honor 
of Massachusetts. Of those who exposed and sacrificed 
their lives in far-off states, and on distant seas, how much 
might be written ! As has been written of them, " they 
did their duty, and the nation owes them a debt of grati- 
tude which can never be repaid. The dead who are buried 
in Virginia, the Carolinas, or the states of the Mississippi, at 
Andersonville, Salisbury, at home, or wherever they may 
rest ; the sick, maimed, and wounded who live among us, 
and those who escaped unharmed from a hundred battle- 
fields, — their families, their names, their services, their 
sacrifices, their patriotism, — will ever be held in grateful 
remembrance by a generous and enlightened people." ^ 

* Schouler, Hist, of Mass. in the Civil War, i. 670. General Schouler was 
adjutant general of the commonwealth during the war, and his work, in two 
volumes, is an invaluable storehouse of facts connected with our history during 
that period. 



628 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



CHAPTER XXV. 
SINCE THE WAR. 

The legislature adjourned on the 30th of May, after 
passing three hundred and one acts and one hundred and 
five resolves. During the session the General Court re- 
fused any new legislation as to liquor selling, any interfer- 
ence with regard to the hours of labor, any change in the 
rate of interest, the e'qualization of bounties to the soldiers 
of the war, the organization of q, board of railway commis- 
sioners, and the prohibition of horse railway cars on Sundays. 
It appropriated half a million dollars to continue work on 
the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and the Hoosac Tunnel, 
and authorized the Western Railroad to increase its capital 
to ten millions, in order to complete its second track, pay 
for the Hudson River Bridge, and enlarge its stock of cars 
and locomotives. A new plan for the organization and main- 
tenance of a state militia was adopted, and General Butler 
placed at its head. 

The aggregate expenditure of Massachusetts on account 
of the war amounted to more than fifty millions of dollars, 
including that of her municipalities. 

The act of 1866 for organizing the militia of the common- 
wealth, provides that all able-bodied men, between the ages 
of eighteen and forty-five, shall be enrolled in the militia. 
The active militia will consist of volunteers, who, in any 
emergency requiring the exercise of military force, will be 




i 



SINCE THE WAR. 529 

the first ordered to render service to the state. Of this 
class of troops there are to be one hundred companies of 
infantry, eight of cavalry, and five of light artillery ; all 
arms and equipments are to be provided by the state, and 
annual encampments are to be held for the purposes of 
drill. 

During the early part of the year the stringent prohibitory 
liquor law of Massachusetts was resisted in various ways. 
In ISIarch, the state courts ruled that a license to sell 
liquors under the Act of Congress providing for internal 
revenue, did not give authority to any person to sell liquor 
in violation of the statutes of the state. The cause was 
then carried to Washington for review ; and the decision 
of the United States Supreme Court was rendered, fully 
sustaining the rulings of the state tribunals. 

In accordance with a provision of the legislature, Governor 
Bullock visited and inspected the work at the Hoosac Tun- 
nel three times in 1866. The progress in the work of the 
tunnel during this year 'was twelve hundred and forty-six 
feet, being four hundred and forty feet in excess of the 
year previous. The course of the work was much retarded 
by the introduction and experimental use of automatic drills 
in the eastern opening. By reason of constant breakage, 
cost of replacement, and delay of the work, these machines 
failed to answer their designs, and were discarded. 

On the 13th of September, the republican state conven- 
tion met at Boston, and renominated Governor Bullock and 
his coadjutors in office. The National Union state conven- 
tion, composed mainly of conservative republicans, and of 
persons who sympathized with the political views of Presi- 
dent Johnson, met at Boston, on the 3d of October, and 
nominated Theodore H. Sweetzer, of Lowell, for governor, 
67 



530 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

and Brigadier General Horace C. Lee, of Springfield, for 
lieutenant governor. The democratic state convention met 
in the same place on the same day, and pledged its support to 
the ticket nominated by the National Union convention. In 
November Governor Bullock was re-elected by a majority 
of upward of sixty-five thousand votes. Among the republi- 
cans elected to the legislature were two colored men, — 
Edward G. Walker, from Charlestown, and Charles L. 
Mitchell, from Boston. All of the republican candidates — 
ten in number — were elected to Congress. 

• The legislature met on the 2d of January, 1867, and was 
prorogued on the 3d of June. Once more the liquor ques- 
tion was freely discussed. In 1855 a law had been passed 
prohibiting absolutely the sale of all intoxicating liquors, 
including ale, beer, and cider, to be used as beverages, and 
also forbidding their sale for any mechanical or medicinal 
purpose by any one save the agents appointed by the state. 
Several petitions were now sent into the legislature praying 
for the enactment of a judicious license law in place of the 
prohibitory statute then in force ; on the other hand, peti- 
tions were received remonstrating against the substitution 
of a license law for the existing statute. The various 
petitions were referred to a joint special committee, which, 
after having granted public hearings, and considered the 
matter from all sides, submitted a report to the legislature, 
which was summed up in these three propositions : — 

First : " It is not sinful nor hurtful in every case to use 
every kind of alcoholic liquors or beverages. It is not, there- 
fore, wrong in every case to sell every kind of alcoholic 
liquors to be used as beverages. But this law prohibits 
every sale of every kind of alcoholic liquors, to be used as 
beverages." Second : " It is the right of every citizen to 



SINCE THE WAR. 631 

determine for himself what he will eat and drink. A law 
prohibiting him from drinking every kind of alcoholic liquors, 
universally used in all countries and ages as a beverage, is an 
arbitrary and unreasonable interference with his rights, and 
is not justified by the consideration that some men may 
abuse their rights, and may, therefore, need the counsel and 
example of good men to lead them to reform. But this 
law does, in theory, prohibit him from drinking every kind 
of alcoholic liquors, since it prohibits every sale of every 
kind of alcoholic liquors to be used as a beverage." Third : 
" Finally, if the use should be totally prohibited, because it 
is either sinful or hurtful in all cases, or may be in some 
cases, the use should be punished. But this law punishes 
the sale, and does not punish the use." The committee 
reported a bill providing for a- license system to- regulate 
the sale of intoxicating liquors. The bill was rejected, 
however, by the legislature, and the old law suffered to 
remain in full force. 

The legislature of this j^ear voted an additional grant of 
six hundred thousand dollars to the Troy and Greenfield 
Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel ; loaned the credit of the state 
to the extent of four millions of dollars for internal improve- 
ments ; virtually repealed the usury laws, by passing an 
enactment allowing a higher rate of interest than that 
assigned as the lawful rate ; granted an act of incorpora- 
tion to the Clarke Institution for Deaf Mutes, which was 
organized at Northampton ; and passed an act, over the 
governor's veto, providing for the annexation of Roxbury 
to Boston, in case the people of the former city should vote 
in favor of the project. The vote was taken, in September, 
in favor of annexation ; and on the 1st of January following, 
the two municipalities were united. 



532 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In October was opened for the reception of pnpils the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College, located at Amherst, the 
citizens of that town having pledged sevent^^-five thousand 
dollars for the benefit of the enterprise. Much "was done 
during the 3^ear for the preservation and improvement of 
Boston Harbor, bv way of constructing a sea wall to prevent 
the waste of the shores, and removing dangerous obstruc- 
tions from the main ship channel. 

The question of regulating the sale of liquors had a 
marked effect upon the political issues in the state, the 
support of the prohibitory policy being generally attributed 
to the dominant party. The republican state convention, 
which met at Worcester on the 12th of September, nomi- 
nated for re-election the entire board of officers then in 
power, and adopted resolutions approving of the recent 
measures of Congress reprobating the policy of President 
Johnson, thanking " our senators and representatives in Con- 
gress for their resistance to the usurpations of the president," 
and expressing gratitude " to the military commanders, who 
have done all in their power within their commands to re- 
store order, initiate civil governments, and secure protection 
to citizens of every race and party." 

The democratic state convention met at Worcester on 
the 14th of October, and nominated John Quincy Adams 
for governor, and George M. Stearns for lieutenant governor. 
One of the resolutions adopted by the convention, declared 
" that from Maine to California the democracy are rising in 
their might to overturn and demolish the radical, destructive 
party, and the democrats of Massachusetts will do their part 
in this good work." And further, " that an increase of the 
state debt during the war, of forty millions of dollars, and 
the wasteful extravagance of the party in power, which has 



SINCE THE WAR. 533 

added to, rather than diminished the debt, is alarming, and 
demands a change of administation in the state govern- 
ment." 

The election took place in November, and resulted in the 
choice of the entire republican ticket, — the majority of 
Governor Bullock being very nearly twenty-eight thousand 
votes. Of the members sent to the legislature, thirty-one 
in the Senate and one hundred and eighty-four in the House, 
were pledged for license ; and nine in the Senate and fifty 
in the House were pledged for prohibition. Six in the House 
were unpledged. 

At the end of the year, the total funded debt of the state 
amounted to twenty-three million nine hundred and eighty- 
four thousand six hundred and forty-nine dollars and twenty- 
five cents, of which the payment of twenty-one millions six 
hundred and five thousand seven hundred and sixty dol- 
lars was secured by sinking funds, bonds, mortgages, and 
collaterals, leaving two millions three hundred and seventy- 
eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-nine dollars and 
twenty-five cents with no special provision for its liquida- 
tion. During the year two millions three hundred and fift}''- 
five thousand five hundred and five dollars and ninety-six 
cents were raised by taxation for the support of public educa- 
tion. Two hundred and thirty-six thousand pupils attended 
the free schools, and eight thousand teachers, of whom about 
seven eighths were females, were employed. 

The legislature of 1868 assembled on the first Wednesday 
in January, and was prorogued on the 12th of June. The 
prominent topic under consideration, during the session, was 
as formerly, that of regulating the sale of intoxicating li- 
quors. Although the governor ' himself was opposed to a 
license system, he deemed it proper to inform the legislature, 



534 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

at the beginning of the session, that the people had ex- 
pressed themselves in favor of a change in the existing law. 
Accordingly a law was framed providing for the sale of 
liquors on licenses to be issued by county commissioners, 
and requiring all dealers to keep a strict account of all 
liquors sold by them, and to make a return thereof once in 
two months to the treasurer of the city or town in which 
their business was carried on. A tax, varying from one to 
two per cent, was imposed upon the value of liquors sold 
under license. The governor disapproved the bill, and in 
a message to the House thus wrote : " The fourth section 
of the bill throws open public bars and tippling-houses in 
every quarter of the state. It leads into temptation the 
young and the weak ; it spreads a snare for the stranger 
and the unwary. It replaces thrift with waste ; and the 
peace and quiet of neighborhoods with boisterous and reck- 
less disorder. It is destructive to the influences of the 
family and the fireside ; adverse to good morals, and repug- 
nant to the religious sentiment of the community. To a 
measure like this, which, as a citizen I could not support, 
as the chief magistrate of the commonwealth I cannot affix 
my signature in approval; and declining to return it with 
my objections for the reasons I have given, I refer it to the 
judgment and the conscience of all the people of Massachu- 
setts." The course of the governor was severely censured 
in the House of Representatives ; but was generally ap- 
proved by intelligent people throughout the state. 

In 1865 a law had been passed, establishing a state police, 
providing " that a constable of the commonwealth should be 
appointed by the governor, with power to name as many 
deputies as the governor and council should direct." In 
1867 this law had come into considerable odium ; and in the 



SINCE THE WAR. 535 

following year a bill providing for the repeal of the constab- 
ulary act passed both Houses of the General Court, but 
was arrested by the veto of the governor. Another bill, 
which was intended to supersede the constabulary law by 
provisions entirely different, was introduced, and met with 
the same fate as the preceding act. With regard to the 
practical working of the license law of 1868, Governor 
Claflin, in his first message to the legislature of 1869, said, 
" The increase of drunkenness and crime during the last 
six months, as compared with the same period in 1867, is 
very marked and decisive as to the operation of the law. 
The state prison, jails, and houses of correction are being 
rapidly filled, and will soon require enlarged accommoda- 
tions, if the commitments continue to increase as they have 
done since the present law went into force." 

Meantime the work on the Troy and Greenfield Railroad 
and the Hoosac Tunnel progressed on a scale more consider- 
able than ever before. Before its adjournment, the legisla- 
ture passed a law, authorizing the governor and council to 
contract for the whole work of constructing the Hoosac 
Tunnel, at an expense not exceeding five millions of dollars, 
and within a time limited to seven years. A supplemental 
act authorized the use of two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars, to be taken from the five millions, to continue oper- 
ations until the proposed contract should be made. On the 
24:th of December the governor and council executed a 
contract with Walter Shanly, of Montreal, and Francis 
Shanly, of Toronto, for the sum of four millions five hundred 
and ninety-four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight dol- 
lars, to be paid in United States treasury notes, or other 
current funds. The contract limited the time to March, 
1874, with power on the part of the governor to grant an 



536 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

extension of six months. Up to this tijue the cost of the 
raih'oad and tunnel amounted to more than four millions of 
dollars ; and the entire cost of the railroad from Boston to 
Troy, with its immediate connections, after completion, was 
estimated at about sixteen millions of dollars. 

During the year, the state made a conditional loan of three 
millions of dollars to the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad 
Company, to enable it to complete the line from Boston to 
Fishkill before May 27, 1872 ; expended one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars for the protection of the harbor at 
Provincetown ; granted upward of two millions and a half 
dollars for the support of common schools ; and made 
smaller appropriations to the Museum of Comparative Zool- 
ogy in Cambridge, to Williams College, to the State Agri- 
cultural College, to the Mount Holyoke Female College, and 
to the Asylum for the Blind. 

The republican and democratic state conventions, as- 
sembled in September. By the former, William Claflin was 
nominated for governor, and Joseph Tucker for lieutenant 
governor ; by the later, John Quincy Adams was nominated 
for governor. Mr. Claflin was elected by a majority of 
nearly sixty-nine thousand votes. Of the votes cast for 
presidential electors, one hundred and thirty-six thousand 
four hundred and seventy-seven were in favor of Grant and 
Colfax ; and fifty-nine thousand four hundred and eight 
for Seymour and Blair. All of the representatives elected 
to Congress — ten in number — were republicans. The 
composition of the General Court was almost wholly repub- 
lican — only two democrats being elected to the Senate, 
and sixteen to the House. 

The legislature of 1869 assembled on the 5th of January, 
and was prorogued on the 25th of June. During the ses- 



SINCE THE WAR. 537 

sion, which consumed one hundred and seventy-one days, — 
the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States was adopted ; an ocean telegraph company was au- 
thorized ; a raih'oad commission and a bureau of statistics 
were estabHshed, and about fifty corporations were char- 
tered. The three great measures of the session were the 
estabhshment of a State Board of Health ; the abolishment 
of the district system of public schools, and the revision of 
the educational system of the state ; and the enactment of 
the prohibitory liquor law. 

The new liquor law passed was, in reality, only a revival 
of the one previously in force. This law provided for the 
appointment of a commissioner by the governor, whose office 
was to be in Boston, and Avhose duty was stated to be " to 
analyze liquors, and sell them to the authorized agents, keep 
record of sales and purchases, and seal all packages of li- 
quor." The manufacture of liquors was authorized by county 
commissioners, and the law also provided for the appoint- 
ment of "bonded agents by cities and towns," and of an 
assayer and inspector of liquors. The complexity of this 
law was remarkable, and the penalties for infringement of 
its various details were based upon no minor scale. 

By the new school law the district system was abolished, 
and the management of the public schools was vested directly 
in the towns, through the general school committee. In 
support of the law, it was* said that "the result will be 
fewer schools and better. There will no longer be schools 
of one, two, or three scholars, as has frequently been the 
case in some of the sparsely populated hill-towns for the 
last few years. By a supplementary act, union districts 
and contiguous districts in different towns are also abol- 
ished, and the way of appraising the property of such dis- 
68 



538 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

tricts is prescribed. Towns shall assume all the debts of 
districts, and deduct their amount from the amount to be 
remitted to the districts." 

On the 31st of January the Messrs. Shanly began work 
for the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel ; and such was 
the progress made during the year, that it was predicted by 
sanguine observers that the mountainwould.be pierced, at 
least one year and a half earlier than the date appointed in 
the contract. The contractors increased their machinery, 
and doubled the working force. 

In the year 1867 Patrick S. Gilmbre, a citizen of Boston, 
conceived the idea of celebrating the restoration of peace 
by a musical festival of gigantic proportions. On the 15th 
of June, 1869, the idea was realized, and the " Peace Jubi- 
lee " was inaugurated. A monster wooden building, five 
hundred feet long and three hundred feet wide, had been 
erected, for the purpose of holding the audience, on the 
Back Bay lands in Boston. The arrangements for lighting 
the building were ample, over four miles of gas pipe being 
used, which consumed fourteen thousand cubic feet of gas 
per hour. The organ employed on, and expressly built for 
the occasion, contained ten hundred and eleven pipes ; and 
the grand chorus comprised one hundred and eight musical 
societies, or ten thousand three hundred and seventy-one 
singers. Ten hundred and ninety-four instruments were 
used in the orchestra, the first violin being played by Ole 
Bull, and the second by Carl Rosa. In certain pieces which 
were performed during the festival use was made of can- 
nons, anvils, and all the bells in the city, the last being 
controlled by electricity. The Peace Jubilee lasted five 
days. Such a musical gathering had never before been 
assembled on the American continent. 



SINCE THE WAR. 539 

Gn the ITtli of August the State Temperance convention 
met in Boston, and adopted twenty resolutions, of the usual 
style. On the 24th of August the democrats assembled at 
Worcester, and without advancing any new theories upon 
national subjects, nominated John Quincy Adams for gov- 
ernor, and S. O. Lamb for lieutenant governor. The repub- 
licans met at the same place, on the 22d of September, and 
renominated Mr. Claflin for governor, and Mr. Tucker for 
lieutenant governor. On the 28th of September a party 
was organized at Worcester, under the name of the Labor 
Reform, and the following ticket was put in nomination : 
E. M. Chamberlin, for governor, and James Chattaway, for 
lieutenant governor. The election in November resulted in 
the choice of all the republican candidates for state officers. 

In his inaugural address to the legislature of 1870 Gov- 
ernor Claflin alluded to the unnecessary length of the 
sessions, which had caused so much dissatisfaction among the 
people. " The conviction is prevalent," he said, " that our 
general laws are well settled, and that the constant liability 
to change, incident to annual sessions, half a year in length, 
is very injurious to business, and wholly unnecessary. Prob- 
ably a legislature sitting once in two years would meet all 
the real wants of the community. Now there is scarcely 
time to learn the results of a law, before it may be altered 
or repealed. The cost of yearly sessions is a circumstance 
not ^o be disregarded, the expense now reaching annually 
nearly four hundred thousand dollars. Half of this would 
be saved to our tax-payers, already too heavily burdened." 
Notwithstanding the wholesome advice of the executive, the 
General Court continued to sit through one hundred and 
seventy days, or until the 23d of June. 

During the session the liquor question was again dis- 



540 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

cussed, and the prohibitory law was amended so as to permit 
the sale of ale, porter, cider, lager beer and strong beer, in 
towns and cities authorizing the sale. Many days were also 
consumed in the discussion of the affairs of the Boston, Hart- 
ford, and Erie Railroad. In preceding years the corporation 
of this road had received from the state a subsidy amounting 
to five millions of dollars, which it was averred by the 
directors would be a sufficient sum to enable them to com- 
plete the road to Fishkill. Early in 1870 it was learned 
that the corporation was about to petition for further state 
aid ; and in anticipation of such a petition, a committee of 
the council was appointed to investigate the affairs of the 
former. The governor submitted the report of -this commit- 
tee to the legislature, showing conclusively, that "at the time 
the grant of five millions of dollars was passed, the statement 
of the directors that it would be sufficient to complete the 
road to Fishkill was correct ; but that at that very time a 
portion of the money was invested in the bonds and stock 
of the corporation, -vyhich were held in the expectation and 
hope of an advance in price ; that in addition to this, the 
directors had pledged a large amount of the bonds for 
advances, instead of selling them in the usual way ; that in 
November, 1869, many of the bonds had been sold at re- 
duced prices to pay tlie advances, and the result was a larger 
loss to the corporation than if they had been sold in the 
market at the time of their issue ; that this loss, however, 
did not affect the state so directly as the loss arising from 
the speculation in the stock, which in one item alone was 
shown to be one million five hundred thousand dollars ; that 
the authority of the directors, by the act of incorporation, to 
take this course, was at least doubtful, and as trustees of a 
great corporation they certainly had no warrant for thus 



SINCE THE WAR. 541 

employing the money placed in their hands." The governor 
withheld his assent for any further issue of the bonds of the 
state until the whole matter should have been passed upon 
by the legislature. 

Shortly afterward a bill was introduced into the legisla- 
ture for a further loan of three millions five hundred thousand 
dollars to the company, which was referred to the committee 
on finance. This committee reported adversely ; but a few 
days before adjournment, the bill passed "both houses of the 
General Court. It was vetoed by the governor, and then 
failed to pass over the veto. Circumstances which followed 
in rapid succession proved conclusively that the railroad 
corporation was hopelessly insolvent. In his message of 
1871, the governor referred to these proceedings, and added : 
" The early completion of the road is most desirable, and no 
doubt the v/ork will be resumed as soon as the courts are 
able to unravel its complicated affairs, and to give the right- 
ful owners possession." 

The work on the Hoosac Tunnel progressed rapidly 
during the year. On the 1st of January, 1870, an aggregate 
of eleven thousand and twenty-six feet had been completed. 
The depth of the central shaft was seven hundred and 
ninety-eight feet ,* and the cost of the work done vip to that 
time was about five hundred thousand dollars. On the 1st 
of January, 1871, thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty- 
two feet had been completed, — thus showing a gain for 
the year of two thousand five hundred and ninty-six feet. 
The cost of the work done up to that time was one million 
two hundred and forty-eight thousand one hundred and 
eighty-four dollars. 

In the political canvass of the year, — one of the most 
important in the history of the state, — four parties were in 



542 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

the field. The campaign was opened by the prohibitory 
party, who held a convention in Boston on the 17th of 
Angust, and nominated Wendell Phillips for governor, and 
adopted a platform embracing twelve resolutions. This 
party aimed " at the extinction of the entire dram-shop 
system, national and state, because it is dangerous and 
injurious to every interest of the commonwealth ; " and de- 
clared " that the abolition of slavery and the preservation 
of our Union having been accomplished, there is no issue 
now before the country equal to that of prohibition;" and 
earnestly invited their fellow-citizens, of all political parties, 
to unite with them in giving this great reform a complete 
victory. 

A convention of the Labor Reform party met at Worces- 
ter on the 8th of September, and also nominated Wendell 
Phillips for governor. This party passed resolutions, de- 
manding the enactment of a law prohibiting all incorporated 
and other manufacturing establishments in the common- 
wealth from emplojdng females and minors more than ten 
hours per day ; a reduction of the hours of labor to eight 
hours for all labor employed at the public expense by states, 
counties, cities, and towns, as experiments ; and " the repeal 
of so much of the national banking law as allows banks to 
issue notes circulating as money, and the substitution there- 
for of legal tender government notes as the best and safest 
currency the government ever had." 

The Republican state convention met at Worcester, on 
the 5th of October, and nominated William Claflin for gov- 
ernor, and Joseph Tucker for lieutenant governor. On the 
12th of the same month the Democratic convention assem- 
bled at Fitchburg, and nominated John Quincy Adams for 
governor. Strong efforts were made to introduce resolutions 



SINCE THE WAR. 543 

favorable to "woman suffrage into the platforms of these 
two conventions ; but they were resisted by a large majority 
in each, and the proposed resolutions were rejected. The 
election in November resulted in the choice of the republi- 
can candidates by a large majority. The census 'taken in 
this year showed a population in Massachusetts of one mil- 
lion four hundred and fifty-seven thousand three hundred 
and fifty-one souls. 

The legislature of 1871 assembled on the 4th of January, 
and continued in session until the 26th of May. A consid- 
erable amount of important business was transacted. The 
name of North Chelsea was changed to Revere ; two new 
towns were created, Maynard being formed from portions 
of Stow and Sudbury, and Ayer from portions of Groton 
and Shirley ; Somerville and Gloucester were incorporated 
as cities. The only important change made in the liquor 
law was one prohibiting the sale of malt liquors, unless it 
were permitted in the different towns by a vote of the 
people. As the law stood before, the sale of malt liquors 
was allowed, unless prohibited in the several towns by a 
popular vote. During the session the constabulary system 
was overhauled, and it was discovered that many abuses had 
been committed on the part of the state police. A bill was 
passed, providing for a 'board of three commissioners, who 
were made responsible for the acts of the chief of the con- 
stabulary force. Among the appropriations made, was a 
grant of fifty thousand dollars to the Museum of Compara- 
tive Zoology in Cambridge, and one of sixty thousand dollars 
for a new normal school at Worcester. 

In the autumn, the political canvass was unusually brisk, 
owing to the fact that several persons, each of whom had a 
strong following in the republican party, aspired to the office 



544 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

of governor. Foremost among these- men stood General 
Benjamin F. Butler, of Lowell, who early announced him- 
self as a competitor for the honor, and left neither art nor 
skill untried in order to secure the position of chief magis- 
trate of the commonwealth. In the number of other aspi- 
rants stood Alexander H. Rice, of Boston, George B. Loring, 
of Salem, Harvey Jewell, of Boston, and William B. Wash- 
burn, of Greenfield. Messrs. Jewell, Loring, and Rice 
withdrew their names before the day of the convention, 
which met at Springfield, on the 27th of September. After 
a warm debate, the opponents of General Butler united on 
the name of Mr. Washburn, and nominated him by a vote 
of six hundred and forty-three out of a total of eleven 
hundred and sixteen. Joseph Tucker was nominated for 
lieutenant governor. 

The Democratic convention assembled at Springfield on 
the 14th of September and nominated John Quinc}'- Adams 
for governor, and Samuel O. Lamb for lieutenant governor. 
It expressed its abhorrence of the dominant party in the 
following resolution : " That in the language adopted by 
the last Democratic state convention, ' the labor of the 
country, weak by its necessities in its defences against the 
cupidity of capitalists and in its ability to compel a recog- 
nition of its just rights, especially needs the protection of 
just, equal, and adequate laws ; ' and ' the present high cost 
of living, and consequent inadequacy of wages to provide 
sufficient means of support for our poor people, are mainly 
due to the unjust currency system, the arbitrary and exces- 
sive taxation, and the great monopolies which have been 
inflicted upon us by the republican party ! ' " The conven- 
tion also passed a resolution condemning the prohibitory 
law " as an odious interference with personal liberty, the 



SINCE THE WAR. 545 

prolific parent of hypocrisy, corruption, and crime, as an 
affront to public decency in the surrender of all attempt 
to enforce the law upon wealth or political influence, and 
with its attendant satellite, the state constabulary, an in- 
vasion of municipal rights, and a degradation of the ordinary 
and appropriate means for the enforcement of the laws." 

The advocates of labor reform assembled at South Fra- 
mingham on the 4th of October, and after adopting a plat- 
form, nominated E. M. Chamberlin, of Boston, for governor. 
On the same day the prohibitionists assembled at Boston, 
and nominated Judge Robert C. Pitman, of New Bedford, for 
governor. The platform was similar in tone to that adopted 
by the party in the preceding year, with one noticeable 
additional clause, as follows : " Since woman is the great- 
est sufferer by the prevalence of drinking, she should be 
the greatest helper in its extirpation. We, therefore, ask 
her to employ every right she now possesses, and may pos- 
sess, to assist in this reform, being assured that only by 
her assistance can we entirely abolish this crime against 
socifet}^ humanity, and God." The election took place on 
the 8th of November, and resulted in the choice of the re- 
publican ticket — Mr. Washburn's majority over all com- 
petitors being upward of thirteen thousand votes. 
. The subject which occupied the largest share of the 
attention of the new legislature, which assembled on the 
3d of January, 1872, was the charter of the Highland Street 
Railway Company in Boston, which, after much discus- 
sion, was passed. Two new towns were formed — Norwood, 
which was taken from Dedham, and Holbrook, which was 
taken from Randolph. Fitchburg was incorporated as a 
city. The legislature also increased the salaries of the 
judges of the Supreme Court, of district attorneys, and, 
69 



546 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

in several instances, of police justices ; dissolved insolvent 
■corporations, abolished the head-money which immigrants 
had been obliged to pa}^ changed the time of elections in" 
cities from Monday to Tuesday, united Haverhill and Brad- 
ford under one municipalit}^, reformed the alms-house sys- 
tem, established the office of inspector of provisions, and 
made it illegal for city officials to make or have a pecuniary 
interest in contracts with their own city. 

The political campaign of the year was not so exciting 
in Massachusetts as in many other states, notwithstanding 
that it was the presidential year. On the 31st of January 
the supporters of female suffrage met in Boston, and declared, 
" that, as negro suffrage was a political necessity in 1870, 
so is woman suffrage a moral necessity in 1872." The 
convention adopted the following, among other resolutions : 
" That we call upon our legislature to enact a law conferring 
suffrage upon women in presidential and municipal elections ; 
also, to submit an amendment to the state constitution, 
abolishing political distinctions on account of sex. That, 
so long as one half of our citizens are taxed and governed 
without consent, every voter is in honor bound to help elect 
the friends, and defeat the enemies, of impartial suffrage, 
and to make the enfranchisement of women the cardinal 
principle of his political action." 

The republican convention for the appointment of dele- 
gates to the national nominating body, met at Worcester on 
the 10th of April, and while recommending the renomi- 
nation of General Grant for the presidency, it urged also 
the nomination of Henry Wilson for the vice presidency, 
" feeling that Massachusetts has earned this distinction by 
long fidelity to the republican principles, in which Henry 
Wilson has always been true to her honor and to the best 



SINCE THE WAR. 547 

sentiments of her people." At a convention of the party 
held later in the season, Mr. Washburn was renominated 
for governor, and Thomas Talbot, of Billerica, for lieutenant 
governor. 

Conventions of the democrats and liberal republicans 
were held at Worcester on the 11th of September. After 
declaring its conviction that " the platform adopted by the 
Cincinnati and Baltimore conventions " was " thoroughly re- 
publican, democratic, and patriotic," and that the dominant 
party had violated its pledge, and " introduced into the 
administration the ideas and practice of personal government 
to an extent without precedent in the history of the 
country," the convention cordially indorsed Horace Greeley 
and B. Gratz Brown " as eminentl}^ fit for the posts assigned 
them by the two great national conventions." Charles Sum- 
ner was nominated for governor, and George W. Stearns, 
of Chicopee, for lieutenant governor. The following reso- 
lution, ratifying the ticket, was adopted : " That we com- 
mend the candidates presented by the concurrent action 
of the two conventions this day to the suffrages of the 
honest voters of the commonwealth, and their triumphant 
election will insure a discontinuance of the trifling legis- 
lation and corrupt practices which have made odious the 
existing administration." Mr. Sumner subsequently refused 
to stand as a candidate for governor, and the name of F. 
W. Bird, of Walpole, was substituted on the ticket by 
the state central committees. 

The election took place on the 4th of November. Of 
the votes cast for presidential electors, one hundred and 
fifty-five thousand four hundred and seventy-two were in 
favor of Grant and Wilson, and fifty-nine tliousand two 
hundred and sixty were in favor of Greeley and Brown. 



548 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Governor Washburn was re-elected by a majority of up- 
ward of seventy-four thousand votes. The enth'e republi- 
can state ticket, and a full republican delegation to Congress 
from the eleven districts were also chosen. 

On the 17th of June of this year the "World's Peace 
Jubilee and International Musical Festival " commenced in 
Boston, and continued until the 4th of July. Patrick S. 
Gilmore was the projector and director of this grand affair. 
A large building, known as the " Coliseum," five hundred 
and fifty feet long and three hundred and fifty feet wide, 
was erected for the purpose. The chorus numbered twenty 
thousand singers, and the orchestra one thousand instru- 
ments. Besides home organizations, the participation of 
several foreign associations was secured, prominent among 
which was the Grenadier Guards band from London, the 
Garde Republicaine band from Paris, the Kaiser Franz Gren- 
adier Regiment band from Berlin, and the Emperor of Ger- 
many's Cornet Quartet. Herr Johann Strauss, of Vienna, the 
distinguished leader and composer, and Franz Abt, the great 
German song-writer, were present during the festival, and 
took part in the exercises. Musically considered, the jubi- 
lee was a marked success ; upward of one hundred thousand 
people came from far and near to witness the display, and 
returned home with the conviction that it was at least .un- 
precedented in modern times. 

On the 9th and 10th of November, the city of Boston 
was visited by one of the most terrible conflagrations of 
modern times. The fire originated about seven o'clock on 
the evening of the 9th, at the corner of Summer and 
Kingston Streets, and gained rapid headway before anything 
was done to check it. A brisk wind carried the flames 
northward nearly to State Street, through the richest busi- 



SINCE THE WAR. 549 

ness quarter of the city, laying in ruins most of the dis- 
trict bounded by Summer, Washington, and State Streets 
and the water front. An area embracing nearly sixty-five 
acres was burnt over, and seven hundred and nine build- 
ings of brick or stone, and sixty-seven of wood, together 
valued at upward of thirteen million and a half dollars, 
were consumed. The amount of personal property destroyed 
was about sixty millions of dollars. 

An extra session of the' legislature was held on the 19th 
of November, for the purpose of devising means for the 
relief of Boston. Several insurance companies were ren- 
dered bankrupt by the fire, and a demand was made for 
new charters, or for a general insurance law. An insur- 
ance act, authorizing any ten or more residents of the 
state to associate themselves together for the purpose of 
carrying on the business of fire or marine insurance with 
an amount of capital of not less than two hundred thou- 
sand dollars, passed both houses of the legislature. This 
act contained several important conditions and restrictions 
framed for the better protection of policy holders. An- 
other act of the legislature authorized the city of Boston 
to issue bonds to the extent of twenty millions of dol- 
lars, to aid the owners of land in the burnt district to 
restore their buildings within one year from the 1st of 
January, 1873. Matters of minor importance were also 
disposed of, and the extra session of the legislature ended 
on the 18th of December. 

The financial condition of the state at the close of the 
year was in every way satisfactory. At the beginning of 
the year the funded debt amounted to more than twenty- 
nine millions and a half, and on the 1st of January, 1873, 
this had been reduced to twenty-six millions and a half, 



550 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

plus the one million dollars added during the year on 
account of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac 
Tunnel loan. There were in the treasury at the close of 
the year about six hundred thousand dollars, and there 
remained no funded liabilities for the payment of which 
the state had not provided a sinking fund. On the 12th 
of December the Hoosac Tunnel was opened from the 
eastern portal to the central shaft. There still remained 
at that time three thousand feet of rock to penetrate 
between the shaft and the western portal, and the con- 
tractors Avere as confident as ever that they would be able 
to complete the work by the 1st of January, 1874. 

The session of the legislature which began in January, 
1873, and closed on the 12th of June, was surpassed in 
duration only by those of 1869 and 1870. Early in the 
session, George S. Boutwell, who, by a coalition in 1851 
of democrats and free soilers, had been chosen governor of 
the commonwealth, was elected as United States senator, 
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the election of Henry 
Wilson to the vice presidency. 

Among the important acts of the session was one authoriz- 
ing the governor and council to expend two hundred thou- 
sand dollars in completing the Hoosac Tunnel and its 
approaches, and also prohibiting the consolidation of the 
Lowell and Fitchburg Railroads ; an act doing away with 
the power of cities and towns to legalize the sale of malt 
liquors, and acts providing for the erection of a new state 
prison, and an insane asylum for the eastern portion of 
the state. With regard to the new liquor act, it was 
said, " It brings the prohibitory law back to where it 
was in 18G7, the only drawback, in the opinion of the 
friends of the statute, being the still existing provision 




*JB;.g^-e»w,ffisi!3'st,v,^i,1.,sVjg-,^gg.J 



SINCE THE WAR. 551 

that apothecaries may sell. A bill to do away with this 
failed by a small majority in a thin house, and there was 
no attempt to reconsider ; from which it is inferred that 
an impression prevailed that the matter had been pushed 
far enough for this year." An important change was made 
in the criminal code, to the effect that, when a person 
indicted for murder or manslaughter is acquitted on the 
ground of insanity, the court shall order such person 
to one of the state lunatic asylums for life ; and* he may 
be discharged from such custody only by the governor 
and council, when the former is satisfied, upon a careful 
hearing of the matter, that it may be done without injury to 
others. 

Notwithstanding the unusual monetary and commercial 
depression of the year, Massachusetts successfully main- 
tained her financial credit and prosperity. The funded 
debt of the state did not exceed twenty-eight millions 
and a half, and, with few exceptions, the state had no debt 
whose liquidation was not contemplated by established 
sinking funds, and their large and increasing accumula- 
tions. The increase in the valuation of real and personal 
estate in 1873, amounted to nearly sixty-seven millions of 
dollars over that of the preceding year. The various educa- 
tional, charitable, reformatory, and penal institutions of the 
state continued in a prosperous condition. During the year 
the new Normal School at Worcester was completed, the 
Agricultural College was established on a firmer basis, and 
the Technical Institutes were crowded with pupils. 

A site in the western part of the town of Concord, 
embracing nearly one hundred acres, was selected and ap- 
proved by the executive council for the new state prison ; 
and a portion of land, embracing about two hundred acres. 



552 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

lying five miles from Salem, was chosen as the site for the 
new hospital for the insane. 

One of the most important events in the history of Boston 
during the year was th6 election, held on the 7th of October, 
which determined the annexation to Boston of Charlestown, 
Brighton, and West Roxbury, to take effect on the 1st of 
January, folio wing. The original limits of Boston embraced 
six hundred and ninety acres. By the filling in of surround- 
ing flat!?, and the addition of South and East Boston, seven- 
teen hundred acres were acquired ; by the annexation of 
Roxbury, twenty-one hundred acres ; by the annexation 
of Dorchester, forty-eight hundred acres ; and by filling flats 
in other places, eight hundred and eighty " acres. Pre- 
vious to the annexation of 1873, Boston thus embraced 
ten thousand one hundred and seventy acres. By the ad- 
dition of Charlestown, Brighton, and West Roxbury the 
area of the city was increased to nineteen thousand one 
hundred acres, and the total valuation to seven hundred 
and sixty-five millions four hundred and seventy thousand 
six hundred and fifty-one dollars. The rebuilding of the 
burned district during the year was rapidly conducted, and 
several very important and advantageous changes were made 
in the lajdng out of the streets and squares. 

On the 3d of September the democratic state conven- 
tion assembled at Worcester, and after adopting resolutions 
denouncing the length of the legislative sessions, and the 
corrupt execution of the liquor law, nominated William 
Gaston, the mayor of Boston, for governor, and William L. 
Smith, of Springfield, for lieutenant governor. The republi- 
can convention met at Worcester seven days later. The 
assembling of this body, comprising over one thousand dele- 
gates, caused more excitement in the state, and attracted 



SIN^E THE WAR. 553 

more attention out of it, than that of any other conven- 
tion ever held in Massachusetts. General B. F. Butler, 
whose determined efforts, for many months, had been to 
secure for himself the republican nomination for gover- 
nor, personally attended the convention, and was conspicu- 
ous in directing the movements of his followers. A stormy 
debate, which took part early in the day between Gen- 
eral Butler and his leading opponent. Congressman George 
F. Hoar, and the discussion which followed, resulted in 
a very decided vote adverse to the former. Immediately 
after the opening of the evening session. General Butler, 
whose wisdom had already discerned his strength in the 
convention, ■ greatly surprised his followers and friends by 
withdrawing from the contest. Governor Washburn was 
then renominated by acclamation, and in November he was 
re-elected by a majority of nearly thirteen thousand votes. 

During the extra session of the legislature, in 1872, a reso- 
lution was adopted censuring Senator Charles Sumner for 
having introduced a bill in the United States Senate, de- 
claring " that the names of battles with our fellow-citizens 
shall not be continued in the army register, or placed upon 
the regimental colors of the United States." Mr. Sumner 
was deeply aggrieved at the ill-advised censure of Massa- 
chusetts, and equally so were his friends and the vast 
majority of citizens in the commonwealth. Scarcely had 
the session for 1874 opened, when a large number of peti- 
tions, unanimously signed, were received, asking that the 
harsh resolution be rescinded. A resolution rescinding the 
resolution was promptly offered, and, after being long 
debated upon, was adopted in both branches of the Gen- 
eral Court. 

A few weeks later, on the 11th of March, Charles Sumner, 
70 



554 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

after a very brief illness, died in "Washington. . Millions were 
in tears ; and no death since that of the martyred presi- 
dent of the United States had so touched the hearts of 
the American people. Mr. Sumner was born in Boston 
on the 6th of January, 1811 ; was graduated from Harvard 
College in 1830 ; studied law, and was admitted to the 
bar in 1834, and from this time onward, until his election 
to the United States Senate, engaged himself in legal occu- 
pations, and conspicuously in the anti-slavery contest. " On 
the record of the grandest movement of the age," says 
a writer, " culminating in the dominion of right over wrong, 
in the liberation of millions from thraldom, and in the 
establishment of freedom over this broad continent, his 
name will ever stand conspicuous. Wherever in this wide 
world a human heart quivers beneath the rod of the op- 
pressor, it will derive hope and inspiration from the fear- 
less utterances of this illustrious champion in defence of civil 
rights, equality, and fraternity." 

After the death of Senator Sumner, a long contest, ex- 
tending over several weeks, took place in choosing his 
successor. The republican members of the legislature were 
divided in their preference, their two leading candidates 
being Henry L. Dawes and Ebenezer R. Hoar. Tlie demo- 
crats voted for Benjamin R. Curtis. At length a com- 
promise was effected, and William B. Washburn, governor 
of the state, was elected by a vote of one hundred and 
forty-nine out of two hundred and sixty-seven. On the 
30th of April Governor Washburn resigned the execu- 
tive chair to lieutenant governor Thomas Talbot. 

Foremost among the acts of the legislature was one limit- 
ing the hours of labor for minors under eighteen years 
of age, and for women, in the manufacturing establish- 



SINCE THE WAR. 555 

ments of the state to ten hours per day ; and an act abolish- 
ing the Board of State Police Commissioners, and giving 
the appointment of the chief of the force directly to the 
governor and council. An attempt was made to bring 
about the repeal of the prohibitory law, but it failed of 
its purpose. The work of the contractors for the com- 
pletion of the Hoosac Tunnel was finished, and the tunnel 
surrendered to the state. The total cost of the tunnel to 
the 1st of January, 1875, was twelve millions nine hundred 
and seventy-three thousand eight hundred and twenty-two 
dollars. 

The great question before the legislature of this year was 
the means to be used for utilizing the Hoosac Tunnel to 
the best advantage. Several plans were submitted, from 
time to time, in the legislature, but no agreement was 
reached upon any one of them. At length the subject 
was disposed of by referring it to " five competent and 
discreet persons as corporators," to be appointed by the 
governor, " who shall examine and report to the next legis- 
lature a plan for the utilization of the Troy and Green- 
field Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel, and for the organization 
and perfection of one or more continuous consolidated lines 
of railroad from Boston to the Hudson River by way of 
the Hoosac Tunnel, with a view of promoting the estab- 
lishment of one or more competing lines of railroad to the 
West." 

On the 16th of May a dam, which confined a large reser- 
voir in the upper part of the town of Williamsburg, in 
the county of Hampshire, broke away, causing a most dis- 
astrous flood. This reservoir contained the reserve water 
supply for the factories on Mill River, in the villages of 
Williamsburg, Haydenville, and Skinnerville in the town- 



556 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

ship of "Williamsburg, and Leeds and Florence in North- 
ampton, and covered one hundred and twenty-four acres. 
The dam began to give way at about half past seven 
o'clock in the morning, and before any warning could be 
given the terrific flood had swept down the valley, over- 
whelming everything in its maddened course. This dis- 
aster occasioned a pecuniary loss of about one million five 
hundred thousand dollars ; the greater part of Williams- 
burg and Leeds, and large portions of Haydenville and 
Skinnerville, were destroyed ; two hundred lives were lost 
in the four villages, and numerous families were rendered 
homeless. This catastrophe was the result of the delinquency 
of the parties who were concerned in originating and con- 
structing the dam and reservoir. The legislature voted one 
hundred thousand dollars for the relief of the sufferers. 

The political campaign of the year was opened by the 
democratic convention, which assembled at Worcester on 
the 9th of September, and was characterized by the best 
of harmony and good feeling. William Gaston, of Boston, 
was nominated for governor, and William L. Smith, of 
Springfield, for lieutenant governor. The republican con- 
vention met on the 7th of October, and nominated Thomas 
Talbot for governor, and Horatio G. Knight, of Easthampton, 
for lieutenant governor. The election occiurred on the 3d 
of November, and resulted in the choice of Mr. Gaston 
for governor, but to all the other state offices the republi- 
can candidates were elected. Governor Gaston's majority 
was seven thousand and thirty-two votes. There was a 
republican majority in the legislature of seventy-eight on 
a joint ballot. 

In November, 1873, four women were chosen on the 
Boston school committee, to serve during the following 



SINCE THE WAR. 557 

year. On the organization of the committee, in January, 
seats were refused to these women, on the ground that they 
were not legally qualified. The matter was carried to the 
legislature, and a bill was introduced declaring women not 
disqualified to act on school committees. In April, the 
judges of the Supreme Court ruled that there was no con- 
stitutional objection to the passage of such a bill. The Act 
was then passed in the legislature, on the last day of the 
session, declaring that sex was no disqualification for the 
office of school committee. No further action, however, 
v,^as taken by the committee during the year, and the seats 
which the women were elected to occupy remained vacant. 
At the election of 1874, seven women were chosen on the 
school committee, and no objection was made to their 
admission. 

The legislature of 1875 convened on the 6th of January, 
and was prorog'ued on the 19th of May, — the session of one 
hundred and thirty-four days being, with one exception, 
the shortest that had been held for ten j'ears. Tlie legisla- 
ture passed two hundred and forty-three acts and seventy- 
eight resolves, all of which were signed by the. governor. 

The legislature of the preceding year appointed as cor- 
porators of the Hoosac Tunnel, William B. Washburn, 
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., P. A. Chadbourne, S. M. 
Crosb}^, and S. B. Stebbins ; and early in the session of 1875 
these gentlemen submitted an exhaustive report on the sub- 
ject, and also a bill for the consideration of the legislature. 
This bill provided for the appointment, by the governor, of 
five persons to be directors of the Boston, Hoosac Tunnel, 
and Western Railroads, with all the powers exercised by 
directors of other railroad corporations. All the state prop- 
erty was to be transferred to these directors, and they were 



558 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

to be authorized to consolidate with such lines as it might 
be found necessary to include in a through line to the West. 
A joint special committee appointed by the two branches 
of the General Court to consider the subject of the Hoosac 
Tunnel line of railroads, after long consideration, submitted 
a bill, which was substantially the same in its provisions as 
that recommended by the corporators. In the House, Mr. 
S. Z. Bowman, of Somerville, introduced as a substitute a 
bill embodying the " toll gate " plan, so called. It provided 
for the appointment of an official to have charge of the tun- 
nel, under the direction of the governor and council ; gave 
to all railroads which could reach the tunnel authority to 
run their cars through it, each car to be subject to a toll, 
the levying' and collection of which should be the duty of 
the manager. 

The bill also contained a provision, which was very ob- 
noxious to many of the members. It was, thit the contract 
with the Fitchburg Railroad Company, known as " the 
twenty per cent, contract," should be abrogated. This 
contract was entered into by the company mentioned, at a 
time when the state was hesitating as to the comparative 
expediency of abandoning the money already spent, or going 
on with the completion of the tunnel ; and by it the com- 
pany bound itself to pay to the state twenty per cent, of 
the net receipts for freight and passengers going through 
the tunnel. The contest on the proposition to abrogate 
this contract was of the bitterest character ; but to the 
surprise of a great many, the bill with this provision was 
passed by both branches, and on the 30th of March was 
signed by the governor. Later in the session a bill appro- 
priating one million three hundred thousand dollars for the 
purpose of carrying out the provisions of the preceding bill, 



SINCE THE WAR. 559 

the laying of tracks, and so forth, was also passed by a 
very large vote. 

The liqnor question received also the early and earnest 
attention of the legislators, and on the 18th of February a 
bill was reported to the House to regulate the sale of in- 
toxicating liquors. This bill provided for the repeal of the 
prohibitory law, and for the issuing of licenses by the mayors 
and aldermen of cities and by the selectmen of towns. It 
was amended in the House in many ways, and then was 
refused passage, and was recommitted to the joint special 
committee on the liquor law. The committee reported 
back the original bill substantially as at first reported, and 
in spite of opposition, it was passed through the House. In 
the Senate it was amended, and then, amendments and all, 
was carried through triumphantly, and was signed by the 
governor on the 5th of April. On the 1st of May it became 
a law of the commonwealth. A few days later the old 
state police force was abolished, and a bill establishing a 
state detective force was passed. This bill provided for the 
appointment by the governor of a chief of the state detec- 
tive force, and as many state detectives, not exceeding 
thirty in number, as the governor and council might deter- 
mine ; it conferred all the powers of police and all the 
powers of constables, with the exception of the service of 
civil process ; and provided that all property of the common- 
wealth in the hands of the state police should be transferred 
to the new force. 

The interests of the city of Boston occupied a full share 
of the attention of the legislature. A bill was passed pro- 
viding for the appointment of commissioners to take lands 
for the laying out of public parks within the city, and 
authorizing them to co-operate with commissioners appointed 



560 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

by adjoining cities and towns, in the laying out of sucli 
parks. On the 9th of June, a majority of the citizens of 
Boston, at a special election, voted in favor of this measure. 
Later in the season a board of commissioners was appointed. 
On the 31st of March, an act to establish a water board for 
the city of Boston was passed. In the closing days of the 
session, the committee on the judiciary reported a bill 
providing for a board of education, which should take the 
place of the Boston school committee, to be composed of 
twenty-four unpaid members, to be elected at large ; and a 
superintendent of schools and six supervisors, to be paid. 
This bill met with violent opposition in the House ; and 
finally, a bill was passed containing the provisions of the 
judiciary committee's bill. The name " Board of Educa- 
tion " was also changed to School Committee. It then went 
to the Senate ; and in that branch was referred to the com- 
mittee on the judiciary, which body reported it back in a 
new draught, providing for the election of one member from 
each ward, and twelve at large. The Senate substituted 
the House bill, and it became a law. 

On the fourth and final ballot for the election of a United 
States Senator to serve for the full term of six years from 
the 4th of March, which was taken on the 20th of January, 
Henry L. Dawes, of Pittsfield, was chosen by a vote of one 
hundred and forty. 

On Monday, the 19th of April, occurred the centennial 
celebrations of the battles of Lexington and Concord. It 
was one of the memorable days of the year ; and thousands 
came from all parts of New England and the whole country, 
to witness the patriotic proceedings. At Concord, the old 
places of historic fame were revisited with interest ; there 
was a long procession, composed of military and civil organi- 



SINCE THE WAR. 561 

zations ; an oration was delivered by George William Curtis, 
of New York ; an ode was read by Professor James Russell 
Lowell, and other literary and musical exercises enlivened 
the occasion. At Lexington, the attendance of people was 
much larger than at Concord. The programme for the day 
was of a similar character, and included an oration by 
Richard H. Daiia, Jr., an ode by John G. Whittier, and 
poems and addresses by other distinguished personages. In 
each of the towns a public dinner was served under a huge 
pavilion erected for the purpose ; the decorations were pro- 
fuse ; and in the evening, brilliant illuminations, and min- 
strelsy, and the dance concluded the festivities of a day 
never to be forgotten by the sons and daughters of the old 
commonwealth. The event was rendered more impressive 
by the attendance of the president of the United States and 
of several members of his cabinet. 

Notwithstanding that the centennial celebrations at Lex- 
ington and Concord were on a scale of unusual magnificence, 
the 17th of June — the one hundredth anniversary of the 
Battle of Bunker Hill — proved, not alone for Massachu- 
setts, but also for the country, one of the most remarkable 
days of the century. In anticipation of the occasion, the 
most extensive preparations were made by the city of 
Boston, and invitations to be present were sent to the prin- 
cipal executive officers of the United States, and governors 
of the several states ; and the entire militia organization of 
the state were ordered out for review and for escort duty. 
It being a legal holiday, the public buildings , and offices 
throughout the commonwealth were closed, and all busi- 
ness, except that connected with the celebration, was 
suspended. All of the public buildings in Boston and 
Charlestown District, and also many private buildings, were 
71 



562 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

handsomly decorated -with flags, bunting, and flowers. At 
all points of historic interest connected with the revolution- 
ary battle inscriptions were placed, giving a clear and 
concise statement of the event to be commemorated. The 
procession included, besides the militia of the state, numer- 
ous military organizations from all the New England states, 
and from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and 
South Carolina. It moved in nine divisions, and the time 
occupied in passing a given point — all delays being de-' 
ducted — was three hours and fifty minutes. 

The services on Bunker Hill were held in a large pavilion, 
erected on the southerly side of the monument grounds. 
The civic procession reached the hill about a quarter before 
six, and the seats in the pavilion were soon filled. After 
prayer by the Rev. Rufus Ellis, D. D„ and a hymn which 
was rendered by the Apollo Club of Boston, Charles Dev- 
ens, Jr., the soldier, the scholar, and the jurist, delivered 
an address, which was listened to with close, attention. 
Speeches were also made .by the Hon. G. Washington War- 
ren, Major General Sherman, Vice President Wilson, and 
by several governors of states. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the day when Wash- 
ington assumed command of the American army was cele- 
brated at Cambridge on the 3d of July. Almost directly 
under the shade of the venerable elm beneath which the 
Father of his Country formally unsheathed his sword, the 
jovial festivities were conducted. The celebration was both 
dignified and appropriate, and without any parade or pro- 
cession. The value of the day as an anniversary lay chiefly 
in the local pride Cambridge citizens felt in it, and accord- 
ingly the observance was made mainly a local one. A tent 
was erected on the Common for the spectators, who num- 



SINCE THE WAR. 563 

bered not more than three thousand. An oration -^^as 
delivered by Rev. Dr. A. P. Peabody, of Harvard College, 
and an original poem was read by. Professor James Russell 
Lowell. The programme for the afternoon included a public 
dinner in Memorial Hall, and a children's celebration. In 
the evening an open-air concert was given on the Common ; 
and the whole scene was enlivened and made effective by 
brilliant illuminations. 

The political campaign of the year was opened at Wor- 
cester, on the 22d of September, by the meeting of the 
democratic state convention. After reiterating the declara- 
tions comprehensively made by the National conventions at 
Cincinnati and Baltimore, in 1872, the convention adopted 
resolutions, opposing " any further issue by the government 
of a currency inconvertible with gold, — the world's recog- 
nized measure of values, — " and favoring " a speedy return 
to specie payments as essential to the revival of the com- 
merce, business, and credit of the country, and to the welfare 
of the laboring masses." The convention expressed its cus- 
tomary horror of the republican party, which it arraigned 
"for extravagant expenditures and profligate waste of the 
people's money ; for its corruption, for its peculations ; and 
for its general mismanagement of both the state and federal 
governments." " We take an honest pride," said the conven- 
tion, " in the cordial and enthusiastic approval by the people 
of the whole country, on the 17th of June, 1875, of the 
policy of reconciliation, peace and fraternity, advocated by 
the democratic and liberal repubHcan parties in 1872, and 
we welcome with especial satisfaction the assurance that 
that policy will be inaugurated by the administration to be 
placed in power in 1876." William Gaston was nominated 
for governor by the convention, and William F. Bartlett 



564 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

for lieutenant governor. General Bartlett subsequently de- 
clined the nomination ; and the state central committee 
substituted the name of John Quincy Adams, of Quincy. 

The republican state convention assembled at Worcester 
on the 29th of September, and initiated a new departure. 
Vice President Wilson presided at the convention, and 
delivered a speech that was generally regarded as sound in 
its conclusions and sensible in its suggestions. Resolutions 
were adopted, " that the president of the United States is 
entitled to the gratitude of the country for the independence, 
courage, and good sense with which, in an urgent crisis of 
affairs, he has assumed the great responsibilities of his office, 
and maintained the national honor and credit ; that sound 
reason xequires that the tenure of the chief magistracy of 
the United States shall not exceed a second term ; that the 
national government is sacredly bound to fulfil its promises 
by the speediest possible return to specie payment ; " and 
*' that as an irredeemable . currency is a national evil, and 
when it continues beyond the necessity of its creation, a 
nation's reproach ; that the demoralization of values caused 
by the inflation of the national currency, while it tends 
to place the earnings of labor, which depend on the steadi- 
ness and uniformity in the measure of values, in the power 
of speculators in gold and credit, also involves the demoral- 
ization of public and private conduct, credit, and expendi- 
ture, speculation in the place of thrift, ultimate prostration 
of trade and industry, risk of incurring crime and dishonor, 
and the whole train of evils which follow any departure 
from the honest ritual that keeps its word, and pays as it 
goes." 

Four candidates for the governorship stood prominently 
before the convention. These were Alexander H. Rice, of 



SINCE THE WAR. 665 

Boston, Charles Francis Adams, of Quincy, George B. 
Loring, of Salem, and H. L. Pierce, of Boston. On the 
third ballot Mr. Rice received five hundred and seventy-six 
votes out of nine hundred and ninety-eight that were cast, 
and was therefore declared the nominee of the convention. 
Horatio G. Knight was renominated for lieutenant governor. 

On the 6th of October, the prohibitory party assembled 
in convention in Boston, " to consider their duty in . the 
present campaign, and the best measures to be taken to 
secure the repeal of the existing law." After adopting a 
platform conforming to the views of the party, the conven- 
tion nominated John I. Baker, of Beverly, for governor. 
On the same day, about thirty labor reformers gathered at 
Worcester, and after adopting resolutions in favor of the 
concentration of effort on the reduction of the hours of 
labor, advising the workingmen to keep aloof from all the 
existing political parties, favoring the making of greenbacks 
legal tenders for duties and all debts, and denouncing the 
" national bank system " as one of the greatest swindles on 
a patient people, nominated Wendell Phillips for governor. 

The annual election took j)laGe on the 2d of November ; 
and Mr. Rice was chosen by a plurality of five thousand 
three hundred and six votes. Horatio G. Knight was re- 
elected lieutenant governor, Henry B. Peirce', of Abington, 
secretary of state, Julius L. . Clarke, of Newton, auditor, 
Charles Endicott, of Canton, treasurer, and Charles R. 
Train, of Boston, attorney general. . 

On the morning of the 22d of November, Vice President 
Henry Wilson died suddenly in Washington. Although he 
had been ill for several days, his death was wholly unex- 
pected. The life of the deceased was full of lessons of sur- 
passing importance to the student of American history ; and 



566 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

in many respects he was a representative American states- 
man, in that his birth and origin were humble and obscure, 
his name unknown to the great world, and in that he rose 
by means of his own individual exertions through successive 
steps to the brightest renown. Posterity will cherish his 
crowning virtues — his humanity, industry, and honesty. 
He was born at Farmington, New Hampshire, on the 16th 
of February, 1812. 




JjiiiL 



THE ERA OF REFORM. 667 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
THE ERA OF REFORM. 

The annual session of the legislature of 1876 began on 
the 5th of January, and continued until the 28th of April. 
Most of the legislation was unimportant, though whatever 
was accomplished tended in the way of reform. A worthy act 
was passed in regard to state savings banks, providing that 
•no person shall be an officer of more than one institution of 
the kind at the same time ; that quarterly meetings shall 
be held by the trustees for the purpose of receiving the 
treasurer's reports, and that statements showing the financial 
condition of each institution shall also be made known to 
the public ; and that interest shall not be paid upon sums . 
greater than sixteen hundred dollars received from . any one 
depositor. Restrictions were levied on investments in a way 
to give . greater value to securities. The act was approved 
by the governor on the 27th of April. 

Three important acts were passed relating to elections. 
One of these declares that any person voting, or attempting 
to cast a vote, upon any other than his own name, or giving 
in more than one ballot at a time, shall be punished by im- 
prisonment in the House of Correction, not less than three 
months, nor more than one year. This act also declares that 
any person convicted of bribery at any election shall also 
suffer imprisonment and fine. 

The second act provides for the preservation of ballots 



568 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

until a disputed election shall h^ve been determined, after 
which said ballots shall then be destroyed. 

The third act requires a list of voters to be made out in 
all cities within the- commonwealth, including all those 
qualified electors who have been assessed for the year, and 
who have paid their tax of the year previous. Those who 
change their residences from one ward to another, in the 
game city, subsequent to the 1st of May, shall cast their 
vote in the ward where they were assessed. 

The question, which had often before been discussed, of 
compensation of members of the legislature, came up again 
during the session ; and an act was passed fixing it upon a 
new basis. This act provides that all members shall receive 
six hundred and fifty dollars for each session, irrespective of 
the duration of th-e session; that presiding officers shall 
receive double this amount. 

The political canvass opened with a convention of the 
republicans in Boston, on the 26th of April. At this con- 
vention, four delegates, viz., E. Rockwood Hoar, Richard H. 
Dana, Jr., John M. Forbes, and Paul A. Chadbourne, were 
appointed to represent the republicans of the state at the 
national convention. The delegates at large to the demo- 
cratic national convention had been chosen at the state 
convention in 1875. 

The republican state convention met at Worcester on the 
5th of September. Alexander- H. Rice was renominated for 
governor; and, indeed, all the candidates were the incum- 
bents of the offices for which they were now designated. 
The platform adopted was a reiteration of previous opinions 
and assertions. 

The democratic convention, held on the following day at 
Worcester, nominated for governor Charles Francis Adams, 



THE ERA OF REFORM. 669 

^a nomination which Mr. Adams accepted a few days 
later. 

The election was holden on the 7th of November. The 
total vote for presidential election was two hundred and fifty- 
nine thousand six hundred and nineteen, of which one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand and sixty-three were for the Hayes 
and Wheeler ticket, one hundred and eight thousand seven 
hundred and seventy-seven for Tilden and Hendricks, and 
seven hundred and seventy-nine scattering. The republi- 
can majority was forty-one thousand two hundred and eighty- 
six. On the state ticket Mr. Rice received a plurality over 
Adams of thirty thousand eight hundred and fifteen. Thir- 
teen representatives to Congress were chosen, all being re- 
publicans except Leopold Morse in the fourth district. 

The new legislature convened on the 3d of January, 
1877, and continued for a hundred and thirty-five days. On 
the 19th George F. Hoar was elected a United States sena- 
tor, to succeed Mr. Boutwell, after seven ballots in joint 
session. . 

Among the important laws enacted during this session 
was one abolishing the coroner sj^stem, and providing for 
separate medical examinations and legal investigations in 
cases of death from unknown causes.* By this act each 
county was to have its own medical examiner, whose duty 
it should be to carefully investigate the causes of death, and 
to report to the district attorney or justice of the local 
court all causes of death known to have resulted from 
violence. 

The political canvass of the year opened with a conven- 
tion of the " Greenback " party, held at Boston on the 5th 
of September. Wendell Phillips of Boston was nominated 
for governor. The nomination and platform of this party 



570 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. ■ 

were subsequently accepted by the labor reform and the 
workingmen's parties. 

The prohibitionists, on the 12th of September, nominated 
Judge Robert C. Pitman of New Bedford for governor; 
and this candidate, and all the others on the same ticket, 
were accepted by the womaii suffrage party, which convened 
in Boston on the 9th of October. 

The democrats met in convention at Worcester on the 
13th of September, and nominated William Gaston of Bos- 
ton for governor. The republicans met at the same place 
on the 19th of September, and renominated the entire state 
board of officers of the previous year. 

The one ." bone of contention " in the canvass, and which 
was made a leading issue, was the approval of the national 
administration and the southern and civil service policies 
of President Hayes. These policies were heartily indorsed 
by the republicans, but discountenanced by the democrats, 
who, also, in their platform, took occasion to "denounce 
upon the guilty republican party stern retribution for the 
great public crime by which the public were defrauded. of 
their right to be governed by rulers of their choice, and the 
elective principle was wounded in its most vital part." 

The election occurred on the 6th of November, and re- 
sulted in the choice of the republican candidates. The 
legislature of 1878 was to consist of thirty-five republicans 
and five deitiocrats in the Senate, and one hundred and 
seventy-one republicans and sixty-nine democrats in the 
House. 

The year was one of great prosperity throughout the 
entire state. There were no temporary loans, and due pro- 
vision was made for the liquidation of all bonds at maturity. 
The total indebtedness of the cities and towns was eighty- 



THE ERA OF REFORM. 57I 

nine million three hundred and twenty-nine thousand four 
hundred and eighty-five dollars. The public institutions of 
the state also flourished. The only calamity was that occa- 
sioned by a large conflagration in the town of Marblehead 
on the 25th of June. No less than thirty shoe factories and 
forty-two dwellings were consumed. The total value of 
property destroyed amounted to about five hundred thou- 
sand dollars, on which there was an insurance of about two 
hundred thousand dollars. 

The prosperity of the state and the possibility of still fur- 
ther decreasing the popular burdens were early reconsidered 
by the legislators of 1878. The session opened at the usual 
time, and closed on the 17th of May. 

By strenuous efforts, and prudence in legislation, the state 
tax was reduced to a million dollars, •— less than half the 
average amount for the previous fifteen years. 

One of the most important bills passed during the session 
was that which provides- that " no child under fourteen years 
of age shall be employed in any manufacturing, mechanical, 
or mercantile establishment while the public schools in the 
city or town where such child lives are in session, unless 
such child can read and write. Every owner, superintend- 
ent, or overseer in any such establishment who employs, or 
permits to be employed, any child in violation of this sec- 
tion, and every parent or guardian who permits such em- 
ployment, shall for every offence forfeit a sum of not less 
than twenty nor more than fifty dollars, for the use of the 
public schools of such city or town." 

For several years past, many places in the state, remote 
from large cities, had been infested by "tramps," — men 
who for want of employment, or for their inability to obtain 
such, were in the habit of going from town to town, and 



572 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

from village to village, playing the rdle of common beggars. 
Many of these vagrants were undoubtedly honest but unfor- 
tunate men ; not a few belonged to the criminal class ; while 
still others were justly looked upon as dangerous elements 
in the communities where they wandered. So numerous had 
become this class of people, and so frequent were the acts of 
thieving, and even of violence, attributed to them, that peti- 
tion after petition was sent in to the legislature, calling for 
relief from the nuisance. The subject was accordingly 
freely and fully discussed ; and the result was a lengthy 
report by the Committee on Public Charitable Institutions, 
urging the duty of each town to enforce the existing laws 
relating to vagrancy, and the enactment of a law making it 
the duty of the chief of the state detective force to arrest 
all persons who were deemed vagrants, and to enforce, or 
cause to be enforced, against such persons the penalties 
provided by law. 

In the summer of this year a man by the name of Denis 
Kearney, emanating from the "sand lots" of California, 
came to Massachusetts. He professed to be a champion of 
the rights of the workingmen ; and his labors in his own state 
previous to his arrival in the East had gained him a certain 
notoriety, and awakened for him a peculiar interest in the 
minds of those who claimed to be in harmony with his ideas. 
He was received in Boston with a certain Sclat., and on the 
5th of August made his first public address, in Faneuil Hall. 

At this time General Benjamin F. Butler stood promi- 
nently on the side of the workingmen in their supposed 
struggle against capital. The general was not a " working- 
man " himself, nor did he claim not to be a capitalist. He be- 
lieved, however, that the " cause " of the workingmen was a 
just one, and that, to benefit this cause, certain reforms were 



THE ERA OF REFORM. 573 

necessary;. He insisted chiefly on a national financial reform 
by making the government paper the basis of its money cir- 
culation, and thus cutting loose from entangling currency 
connections with other nations. On the 10th of August he 
took occasion, in a public address at Biddeford, Maine, to 
thus, place himself on record : — 

^"I have left the old parties. I belonged to the demo- 
cratic party until it attempted to d.estroy tlie Union, and 
was with the republican party till it deserted its founders, 
the laboring-men. The capitalists now hold the republican 
party bound hand and foot. Hayes has violated every 
pledge, and betrayed the negroes of the South. The effort 
of Grant's administration to strengthen public credit was a 
swindle." ^ 

The general's position, and the striking boldness with 
which he enunciated his opinions, attracted many adherents! 
Erelong a petition was presented to him, signed by upwards 
of fifty thousand voters, urging him to become a candidate 
for governor. On the 29th of August he publicly announced 
his willingness to become a candidate, and at great length 
stated the objects for which he should contend. 

On the 11th of September the canvass opened with the as- 
sembling of the prohibitory state convention .at Worcester. 
On the same day the independent greenback convention was 
held at the same place, and General Butler was nominated 
for governor. 

On the 18th the democratic convention met at Worcester; 
and after a stormy session, during which violence was mo- 
mentarily imminent. General Butler received the nomination. 
The republicans on the same day chose Thomas Talbot as 
his opponent. The state electio.n took place on the 5th of 
November, with the following result: Talbot, republican, 



574 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

one hundred and thirty-four thousand seven hundred and 
twenty-five ; Butler, national democrat, one hundred -and 
nine thousand four hundred and thirty-five ; Abbott, demo- 
crat, ten thousand one hundred and sixty-two. The repub- 
licans stood thirty-four in the Senate, and one hundred and 
eighty-five in the House ; the democrats, four in the Senate, 
and forty in the House. 

The new legislature of 1879 took up the subject of 
retrenchment, and appointed a joint committee to investi- 
gate every department of the government, and to report 
upon the feasibility * of salary reduction. 

One of the first acts was the establishment of a Board of 
Health, Lunacy, and Charity, to consist of nine persons, who 
should, without compensation, have charge of all matters 
previously under the care of the Board of Health and State 
Charities. 

An article in amendment of the state constitution was 
adopted, providing that " the legislature shall assemble bien- 
nially on the first Wednesday of January, and state officers 
and members of the legislature shall hold office two years." 
By this article, the first election was appointed for the 
Tuesday next after the first Monday of November, 1880; 
and the first -session of the legislature the first Wednesday 
of January, 1881. To become of force, this resolution 
required, first, adoption by the legislature of 1880 ; and, 
second, approval by the people at large. 

By prudent legislation, the state tax was reduced, actu- 
ally, upwards of three hundred thousand dollars. 

The woman question was agitated as never before in the 
history of the state ; and strong efforts were put forward 
to have a constitutional amendment submitt-ed to the people, 
giving to women equal political rights with men. Another 



THE ERA OF REFORM. 575 

proposition was offered, that women should be permitted 
by statute to vote in all municipal elections; still- another, 
that women should be allowed to vote for members of school 
committees ; and, lastly, that women should have the right 
to vote on all matters pertaining to the sale of intoxicating 
liquors. Strong arguments were made for and against all 
of these propositions; but only the third, that relating to 
school matters, was adopted. It is worthy of note, that the 
passage of this act was the first decided triumph of the 
woman suffragists of the state. 

At the usual season the canvass opened. The republicans 
nominated John D. Long of Hingham for governor ; while 
the so-called national labor party and the. independent demo- 
crats, in separate conventions, nominated General Butler. 
John Quincy Adams was the nominee of the regular demo- 
cratic state convention. The election, held on the 4th 
of November, showed the • following results : for Long, 
republican, one hundred and • twenty-two thousand seven 
hundred and fifty-one votes were cast; for Butler, democrat 
and national, and Adams, democrat, one hundred and nine 
thousand one hundred and forty-nine votes. The democrats 
made a slight gain in both the House and Senate. 

The amendment to the constitution, which had been pro- 
posed at the session of 1879, viz., that providing for biennial 
elections and legislative sessions, came up before the session 
which opened on the 7th of January, 1880. It failed to receive 
the necessary two-thirds vote in the House. The question, 
after much discussion, was finally divided : and, instead of 
a joint amendment, two separate amendments were proposed, 
— one providing that the governor and other executive offi- 
cers of the state should be elected for terms of two years, 
beginning with the election, of '1882; and the other pro- 



676 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

viding that members of the legislature should be chosen 
biennially. 

The political contest began early in the year. On the 6th 
of March the self-styled young republicans met in convention 
at Worcester. They declared their " adhesion to the princi- 
ples of the republican party;" protested "against the nomi- 
nation of any candidate who is certain to lose the support 
of any important portion of the party ; " opposed the nomi- 
nation of Ulysses S. Grant or of James G. Blaine, "since 
many considerations will lead large portions of the republican 
party to vote against either ; " and promised their support 
to " any man, who, like President Hayes, has shown in words 
and acts that he is in sympathy with the principles declared 
by us, and whose personal character is pure, and above 
suspicion." 

A republican convention for the selection of delegates 
at large to the national convention was held at Worcester 
on the 15th of April. The three delegates chosen were 
thought to be in favor of the nomination of George F. 
Edmunds of Vermont for president. 

On the 1st of September a democratic convention was 
held at Worcester for the purpose of nominating candidates 
for state officers and electors. Charles P. Thompson of 
Gloucester received the nomination for governor. The 
republicans, in convention on the 15th of September, nomi- 
nated John D. Long. 

On the 2d of November occurred the election. The total 
number of votes cast for president was two hundred and 
eighty-two thousand five hundred and twelve, of which one 
hundred and sixty-five thousand two hundred and five were 
for the republican, and one hundred and eleven thousand 
nine hundred and sixty for the democratic, ticket. Of the 



THE ERA OF REFORM. 677 

votes for governor, Long received one hundred and sixty- 
four thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and Thompson 
one hundred and eleven thousand four hundred and ten. 
Long's majority over all competitors was forty-seven thou- 
sand four hundred and thirty-four. 

On the 17th of September the two hundred and fiftieth 
anniversary of the founding of the city of Boston was cele- 
brated with a brilliant parade, and exercises appropriate to 
the occasion. 

The legislature which convened in January, 1881, passed 
no less than three hundred and five acts and seventy-two 
resolutions. . Notable among these was an act fixing the 
penalties for drunkenness; an act providing that no person 
who has served in the United States army or navy, and has 
been honorably discharged from the service, if otherwise 
qualified to vote, shall be debarred from voting on account 
of his being a pauper, or, if a pauper, because of the non- 
payment of a poll tax, — an act which obviated many of the 
evils of double taxation by providing, that, when any person 
has an interest in taxable real estate as holder of a mort- 
gage, given to secure the payment of a loan, the amount 
of which is fixed and stated, the amount of said person's 
interest as mortgagee shall be assessed as real estate in the 
city or town where the land lies, and the mortgagor shall be 
assessed only for the value of said real estate, less the mort- 
gagee's interest in it. 

During the session an important act was passed, providing 
that criminal proceedings may, in the state of Massachu- 
setts, be instituted against a person from whom a divorce 
has been obtained by reason of a criminal ofi'ence ; that all 
decrees of divorce shall, in the first instance, be decrees wm, 
to become absolute only after six months shall have expired 



578 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

from the entry thereof on application of either party / and 
that, a person from whom a divorce has been, or may here- 
after be, granted, shall not marry until two years have 
elapsed. since the entry of the final decree of divorce. 

During the session Henry L. Dawes was re-elected a sena- 
tor of the United States, after many ballotings. 

The political conventions were inaugurated by the holding 
of the state greenback convention on the 2'4th of August. 
The republican state convention assembled on the 21st of 
September, and nominated John D. Long for governor. 
Charles P. Thompson was the nominee of the democratic 
convention. The result gave Long a plurality of :Corty-two 
thousand and twenty-three votes. 

The session of the legislature which opened on the 5th of 
May, 1882, continued for one hundred and forty-three days, 
and in duration was only surpassed by the session of 1874. 
Nothing was added to the public statutes by this session ; 
and, although special enactments were nnmerous, nothing 
of very great importance to the general public was accom- 
plished. Railroad interests occasioned much discussion, 
which resulted in some legislation ; and the" liquor problem 
was again considered, but" with conspicuous failures as the 
outcome. 

At the beginning of August the prohibitory state con- 
vention assembled in Boston, and nominated Charles Almy 
of New Bedford for governor. In the platform adopted by 
their convention was the following resolution : — . 

" Resolved., That an intelligent review of the past fifteen 
years should satisfy every lover of the cause of prohibition 
that state officers, however excellent in reputation and pro- 
fessed principles (though they serve as a decoy for the votes, 
of temperance men), cannot be relied upon for securing 



THE ERA OF REFORM. 579 

temperance legislation in a party that handles our cause as 
a matter of policy." 

In the same month the greenback state convention met, 
and nominated Benjamin F. Butle!- for governor. The 
democratic state convention, in September, nominated a 
ticket with Butler at its head. The platform asserted, (1) 
The supremacy of the nation within constitutional limits, 
and the integrity of the state, an indissoluble union of inde- 
structible states; (2) Equal rights, equal powers, equal 
burdens, equal privileges, and equal protection by law under 
the government, for every citizen of the republic, without 
limitation of race, or "sex, or property qualifications, whether 
it be by a tax on property or a poll tax on persons; (3) 
Impartial freedom of the ballot ; (4) Honest and economic 
expenditures of the public money in state and nation ; (5) 
A thorough and immediate reform of the tariff; (6) Reduc- 
tion, of extravagant state expenditures, with the direct taxa- 
tion necessary to sustain them ; and, finally, no sumptuary 
laws, infringing sacred rights of personal liberty. 

The' republicans, on the 20th of September, nominated 
Robert R. Bishop of Newton for governor. The Novem- 
ber election resulted in the choice of Butler for governor, 
with a plurality of eleven thousand six hundred and four- 
teen votes. The remainder of the state officers were chosen 
from the republican ticket. The governor's council stood 
seven republican and one democratic.' For the new legisla- 
ture, twenty-two republicans and seventeen democrats were 
chosen in the Senate, and a hundred and forty republicans 
and ninety democrats in the House. 

The year did not pass without memorable events happen- 
ing within the state. In the month of February the town 
of Haverhill was visited by a conflagration which devas- 



580 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

tated an area of nearly ten acres, comprising sixty buildings, 
and imposed a pecuniary loss of some two millions of dol- 
lars. The shoe industries of the town were paralyzed, and 
nearly three thousand persons were thrown out of employ- 
ment. 

On the 12th of October the one hundredth, anniversary 
of the birth of Daniel Webster, the great "expounder of 
the national constitution," was celebrated at Marshfield. 
The celebration ought to have been held in January, but 
untoward circumstances necessitated a postponement till 
later in the year. 

The session which convened on the 3d of January, 1883, 
and came to a close on the 27th of July, was the longest on 
.record in the annals of Massachusetts. Its duration was 
two hundred and six days. Briefly summarized, its work 
was as follows: the acts approved by the governor num- 
bered two hundred and thirty-five ; those approved by the 
lieutenant governor, four ; those becoming laws without sig- 
nature were forty, — the total number enacted being two 
hundred and seventy-nine. Three engrossed* bills failed to 
be enacted, and one engrossed bill was recalled. The gov- 
ernor approved fifteen resolves, and eight became laws with- 
out his signature. 

By the requisite votes, a majority in the Senate and 
two-thirds in the House, the legislature passed a resolve 
providing for such an amendment to the constitution, that, 
beginning in 1884, state elections shall occur but once in 
two years, and that, commencing with 1885, the legislature 
shall hold biennial sessions ; it also provides that a person 
shall be eligible as treasurer and receiver general for three 
successive terms, and no more. This measure remains to be 
acted upon favorably by the legislature of 1884, and then 






THE ERA OF REFORM. 53^ 

accepted by a majority of the people, in order that it may 
become a portion of the fundamental law of the common- 
wealth. This was the only movement toward a change in 
the constitution during the session. 

For the first time in many years, no material change in 
the laws governing the sale of intoxicating liquors was 
made ; the only act bearing upon that traffic being one of a 
clerical character, by which applications for licenses may be 
granted in March and April ; and licenses may be granted 
in April to take effect upon the first day of May next ensu- 
ing. The state tax was to be one million five hundred 
thousand dollars. The finance committee reported that it 
should be two .millions of dollars ; but Governor Butler 
thought otherwise, and Vetoed the bill assessing and appor- 
tioning that amount. This gave rise to considerable debate ; 
but, in spite of the reasons offered by the committee, the 
measure was not passed over the objections of the executive. 

The session, however, was made memorable, chiefly by the 
number of bills which the governor returned with objections 
to their becoming laws ; but one of them passed over these 
objections, tlie large democratic minority making such a 
thing impossible so long as party lines were maintained. 
After the first trial of strength, there was a break of party 
lines, which widened as time went on ; several of the gov- 
ernor's vetoes being sustained by a vote of nearly two-thirds 
in their favor. The vetoes were thirteen in number. That 
on which most time was spent, and which attracted the most 
attention, was relative to ai bill to incorporate the Union 
Safe Deposit Vaults of Boston. The message with which 
this bill was returned was written on February 23 : on the 
evening of that day his excellency left the state. The 
House having adjourned before the jdocument had been 



582 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

made ready for delivery, it was not transmitted until Mon- 
day, the 26tli ; that being the next day on which the House 
was in session. 

•Thereupon a doubt as to the validity of the veto was 
raised, and the Judiciary Committee was directed to inquire 
into it. A majority of that body reported that the record 
showed the message to be a veto, and that nothing further, 
except to vote upon the matter, should be done.- This re- 
port was not satisfactory to a majority of the House, and 
hence a special Committee of Inquiry was appointed; and its 
report was, that the opinion of the Supreme Judicial Court 
should be sought. This report having been adopted, and 
the opinion having been asked, the reply of the full bench 
was, that the message was a valid veto. 

The length of the session was mainl}'- attributable to the 
Tewksbury Almshouse- investigation. The events and cir- 
cumstances belonging to this investigation are too familiar to 
the public to bear repeating. Whether the governor was 
right or wrong in his surmises and charges,. whether the in- 
vestigation was justified by the results, or was altogether 
uncalled for, are questions which will always be surrounded 
with doubt, and cannot be answered to the satisfaction of all. 

No effort towards a supposed reform ever so completely, 
aroused the people of Massachusetts. During and after 
the investigation, partisan opinions ran violently, and per- 
sonal abuse knew no limits. The republican, party of the 
state was thoroughly incensed: the democratic party, as a 
body, stood by the governor. " 

At the fall election, in November, upwards of three 
hundred and ten thousand people cast their votes. The 
candidate of the republican party, George D. Robinson of 
Chicopee, received nearly one hujidred and sixty thousand 



THE ERA OF REFORM. 583 

votes; while Butler, tlie candidate of the opposition, received 
one hundred and fifty thousand. The legislature of 1884 
returned republican majorities in both Houses. 

At noon, on Thursday, January 3, 1884, the new execu- 
tive magistrate of the commonwealth was inaugurated at 
the state Capitol. Those who were present on both occa- 
sions could not refrain from contrasting the features of this 

day with the corresponding day of 1883. Then thousands' 

«■ 
of people were agog with curiosity to see and hear Governor 

Butler: now as many thousands were deeply interested in 
the advent of Governor Robinson. Then there was a strug- 
gling mass, which filled corridors and stairways almost to the 
.point of suffocation : now the attendance was large, but it 
was of a much more orderly character, there being no ten- 
dency to push and struggle for the first places. Then the 
hall and galleries of the House Chamber were closed to all 
but a favored few, who had cards of admission to them : now 
but little space was reserved ; and that was for ofiicial bodies, 
not for personal friends nor political supporters. Then the 
assembled company was treated to a remarkable address: 
now the inaugural was not only much shorter verbally, but 
was a straightforward document of practical tone. Then 
his excellency delivered his address with much oratorical 
display : now his excellency spoke with no effort after effect. 

As we write these words, the man whom the popular 
voice of the old commonwealth has chosen for its standard- 
bearer, stands confronting hi^ work. May wisdom guide 
him in his acts and opinions ! 

Born in Lexington, Massachusetts, February 20, 1884, 
Governor George Dexter Robinson is still in the prime of 
manhood. Educated at Cambridge, he followed the calling 
of a teacher of youth until 1865. In the following year he 



584 HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

began the practice of law in the town of Chicopee, where 
he had been a resident since 1856. In 1874 he' represented 
the town in the legislature, ajid two years later was made 
a state senator. Subsequently he. was chosen a member of 
the forty-fifth Congress, where he at once gained reputation, 
and became an authority in parliamentary law. He was 
elected, still later, to the forty-sixth, forty-seventh, and the 
forty-eighth Congresses ; resigning his seat in the latter only 
to enter upon the duties of the office of chief executive 
magistrate of his state. 

Mr. Robinson's record as a private citizen, and as a legis- 
lator for state and nation, augurs an administration for the 
year 1884 which will be an honor to the people, whose ser- 
vant he is, as well as to himself. 

The History of Massachusetts has now been traced from 
the foundation of the colony at Plymouth to the present 
time, — a period of nearly two hundred and sixty-five 
years. It is unnecessary to sum up the incidents that have 
been recorded, or to do more than to add that the great 
lessons which they teach us are, confidence in the integrity 
of the people, confidence in their capacity for self-govern- 
ment, and confidence in that religious principle which is 
always the safeguard of freedom. The founders of the 
commonwealth, believing that a republican government 
could be maintained only by a moral and intelligent popu- 
lation, desired, first of all, to educate their children, to 
inspire industry, frugality, and integrity, and to encourage 
and develop the useful arts. Grateful for the prosperity 
so largely enjoyed by us, and while looking forward to that 
which is advancing, we can but utter our solemn aspiration, 
"As God was to our fathers, so may he be to us ! " 



SUCCESSION OF GOVERNORS. 



585 



SUCCESSION OF GOVERNORS OF THE STATE 
OF MASSACHUSETTS. 





GOVERNORS OF PLYMOUTH COLONY. 


1620. 


John Carver. 


1644. Edward Winslow. 


1621. 


William Bradford. 


1645. WUliam Bradford. 


1633. 


Edward Winslow. 


1657. Thomas Prence. 


1634. 


Thomas Prence. 


1673.. Josiah Winslow. 


1635. 


William Bradford. 


1681. Thomas Hinckley, who held 


1636. 


Edward Winslow. 


his place, except during the 


1637. 


William Bradford. 


interruption of Andros, till 


1638. 


Thomas Prence. 


the union with Massachu- 


1639. 


William Bradford. 


setts in 1692. 



GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY UNDER THE FHIST 
CHARTER. 

John Endicott. 

Thomas Dudley. 

John Endicott. 

Richard Bellingham. 

John Endicott. 

Richard Bellingham. . 

John Leverett. 

Simon Bradsti-eet, who, with 
the exception of the admin- 
istration of Sir Edmund 
Andros, continued in office 
tm 1692. 



1629. 


John Endicott. 


1649. 


1630. 


John Winthrop. 


1650. 


1634. 


Thomas Dudley. 


1651. 


1635. 


John Haynes. 


1654. 


1636. 


Henry Vane. 


1655. 


1637. 


John Winthrop. 


1665. 


1640! 


Thomas Dudley. 


1673. 


1641. 


Richard Bellingham. 


1679. 


1642. 


John Winthrop. 




1644. 


John Endicott. 




1645. 


Thomas Dudley. 




1646. 


John Winthrop. 





586 



HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS APPOINTED BY THE KING 
UNDER. THE SECOND CHARTER. 



1692, May. 
1694, Nov. 

1699, May. 

1700, July. 

1701, July. 

1702, June. 

l^lHFeb. 

1715,> 

i7i5;r'"^- 

1715, Nov. 

1716, Oct. 



1722,) 



1723, 

1728, July. 

1729, Sept. 



Sir William Phips. 
Wm. Stoughton, A.G.^ 
Earl of Bellomont. 
Wm. Stoughton, A.G.i 
The Council. 
Joseph Dudley. 

The Council. 

Joseph Dudley. 

William Tailer, A.G.i 
Samuel Shute. 



Jan. Wm. Dummer, A.G.^ 



William Burnett. 
Wm. Dummer, A.G.^ 



1730, June. 


William Tailer, A.G.\ 


1730, Aug. 


Jonathan Belcher. 


1741, Aug. • 


William Shirley. 


1749, Sept. 


Spencer Phips, A.G.^ 


1753, Aug. 


William Shirley. 


1756, Sept. 


Spencer Phips, A.G.^ 


1757, April. 


The Council. 


1757, Aug. 


Thomas Pownal. 


1760, June. 


Thomas Hutchi'nson, 




A.G.i 


1760, Aug. 


Francis Bernard. 


1769, Aug. 


Thomas Hutchinson, 




A.G.i 


1771, Mar. 


Thomas Hutchinson. 


1774, May. 


Thomas Gage. 



DURING THE REVOLUTION UNTIL THE CONSTITUTION. 
1774, Oct. A Provincial Congress. 1 1775, July. The Council. 



GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. 

TO 

Marcus Morton . . . 1844 

George N. Briggs . . 1851 

George S. Boutwell . . 1853 

John H. Clifford . . . 1854 

Emory Washburn . . 1855 

Henry J. Gardner . . 1858 

Nathaniel P. Banks . 1861 

John A. Andrew . . 1866 

Alexander H. Bullock . 1869 

William Claflin . . . 1872 
William B. Washburn . 1874 

William Gaston . . . 1876 

Alexander H. Rice . . 1879 

Thomas Talbot ■. . .1880 

John D. Long . . . 1883 

Benjamin F. Butler . 1884 
Georo'e D. Robinson. 



TBOM 




TO 


FROM 


1780. 


John Hancock . . , 


1785 


1843. 


1785. 


James Bowdoin . . . 


1787 


1844. 


1787. 


John Hancock, Oct. 8 . 


1793 


1851. 


1794. 


Samuel Adams . . . 


1797 


1853. 


1797. 


Increase Sumner, Jun. 7, 


1799 


1854. 


1800. 


Caleb Strong . . . . 


1807 


1855. 


1807. 


James Sullivan, Dec. 10, 


1808 


1858. 


1809. 


Christopher Gore . . 


1810 


1861. 


1810. 


Elbridge Gerry . . . 


1812 


1866. 


1812. 


Caleb Strong . . . . 


1816 


1869. 


1816. 


John Brooks . . . . 


1823 


1872. 


1823. 


William Eustis, Feb. 6, 


1825 


1875. 


1825. 


Levi Lincoln . . . . 


1834 


1876. 


1834. 


John Davis, March 1 . 


1836 


1879. 


1836. 


Edward Everett . . . 


1840 


1880. 


1840. 


Marcus Morton . . . 


1841 


1883. 


1841. 


John Davis . . . . 


•1843 


1884. 



1 Acting Goyernor. 



INDEX. 



Abbot, Archbishop, 27. 

Abbott, J. G.,514. 

Abenakis Indians, 144, 148, 209. 

Abercronibie, Colonel, 319. 

Abercrombie, General, 215, 219, 221, 

222. 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, 348. 
Acadia, 61, 117, 136, 143, 149, 150, 

210-212. 
Acton, town of, 304, 305, 309. 
Adams, Charles Francis, 456. 
Adams, John, 218, 248, 250, 266, 276, 

282-289, 292, 313, 334-338, 382, 

390-393, 399, 409, 417. 
Adams, John Quincy, 399, 414-419,- 

426, 438, 452, 456. 
Adams, John Quincy, 532, 536, 539, 

561. 
Adams, Samuel, 230, 240, 249, 202- 

268, 275, 282-291, 293, 300, 301, 310- 

313, 351, 386. 
Agricultural College, 532. 
Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 199. 
Albany, 151, 198, 203, 208, 213, 215, 

340, 377. 
Albemarle Sound, 6. 
Alcock, Mr.,35. 
Alden, John, 66. 
Alexander, Indian chief, 101. 
Allen, Charles, 457. 
AUerton, Isaac, 22-25, 65. 
Almanac, New England, 73. 
Almshouses, 412. 
American Party, 481. 
Amherst, Jeffrey, 219-225. 
Amherst, town of, 532. 
Amory, J. C, 496. 
Amsterdam, 3. 
Anabaptists, the, 191. 
Andover, town of, 141, 159, 348, 443. 
Andrew, J6hn A., 486, 487, 490, 498, 

500, 503, 504, 514, 515, 523, 524, 

526. 
Andros, Sir Edmund, 123-128, 130- 
136. 



Annapolis, 150, 202, 210. 
Anne, Queen, 135. 
"Anne," the ship, 18, 19. 
Anson, Admiral, 199. 
Antietam, battle of, 503. 
Anti-Federalists, 383, 411. 
Anti-Masonry, 423. 
Antinomianism, 46, 191. 
Appleton, Major, 107, 130. 
Aquidneck, 46. 
Arlington, town of, 301. 
Arminianism, 191. 
Armstrong, S. T., 425. 
Ashburton, Lord, 440-441. 
Assawomset Pond, 102. 
Atkinson, Theodore, 204. 
Attleboro' Gore, 111. 
Augusta, town of, 206. 
Austin, James T., 433. 
Ayer, Samuel, 147. 

Back Bay lands, 484. 

Balch, John, 28. 

Ball's Bluff, battle of, 498. 

Baltimore Riot, 491. 

Bancroft, George, 438. 

Banks in Massachusetts, 349, 430, 431, 

434, 435, 465, 490. 
Banks, Nathaniel P., 458, 459, 466,. 

476, 482-485, 502, 504, 505, 507. 
Barlow, General, 524. 
Barnes^ James, 496. 
Barnstable, town of, 14, 26. 
Barre, Colonel, 257, 268-271, 279, 290. 
Barrett, Colonel James, 303-305. 
Barrett, Samuel, 347. 
Bartlett, W. F., 505, 517. 
Baum, Colonel, 340. 
Beach, E. 0., 482, 486. 
Beau Basin, 210. 
Beauchamp, John, 13. 
Beaufort, town of, 138. 
Beau Sejour, 210. 
Bedford, Duke of, 227. 
Bedford, town of, 309. 

587 



588 



INDEX. 



Belcher, Jonathan, 186-191, 227. 

Bellamont, Earl of, 133. 

Bellingham, Richard, 40, 48, 93, 94. 

Bennington, battle at, 340. 

Berksliire Jubilee, 443. 

Bernard, Francis, 229, 240-246, 263, 
268, 270, 277, 282, 292, 296. 

Beverly, town of, 159, 809. 

Billerica, town of, 141, 159, 306, 309. 

Bishop, Bridget, 163. 

Block Island, 49, 50. 

Board of Education, 428, 437, 448, 449. 

Board of Trade, 229, 237, 238, 251. 

"Body of Liberties," the, 57, 58. 

Boscawen, Admiral, 219, 220. 

Boston, 11, 36, 37, 52, 59, 60, 62, 65, 
68, 86, 87, 89, 93, 104, 107, 120, 122, 
124-126, 177, 180, 186, 191, 198, 
199, 240, 248, 249, 261, 266, 272, 281, 
283, 284, 287, 289, 291, 293, 296, 
800, 312, 324-332, 339, 353, 377, 
389, 401, 407, 409, 412, 423, 425, 
429, 430, 434, 452, 459, 463, 474, 
481, 490, 531, 548, 552, 660. 

Boston Harbor, 287, 295. 

Boston Massacre, 275. 

Boston Port Bill, 290, 291, 326. 

Boutwell, G. S„ 458-461, 476, 550. 

Bowdoin, James, 230, 282, 347-352, 
374, 378. 

Bowler, George, 505. 

Boylston, Dr., 180. 

Braddock, General, 206, 207. 

Bradford, Governor William, 9-14, 20, 
25. 

Bradford, Major, 107, 130. 

Bradstreet, Colonel John, 195, 221. 

Bradstreet, Simon, 34, 36, 84, 87, 94, 

. 126, 130. 

Braintree, town of, 43, 48, 68. 

Brattle, William, 216. 

Breeden, Captain, 94. 

Breed's Hill, 315, 318. 

Brenton, Mr., 131. 

Brewster, William, 9. 

Bridge, Colonel, 314, 318, 323. 

Bridgewater, town of, 114. 

Briggs, Governor George N., 443-455, 
458. 

Bristol, England, 6, 20. 

Brookfield, town of, 104, 105.- 

Brookline, town of, 309. 

Brooks, Governor John, 317, 378, 408- 
414.. 

Brooks, Preston S., 480. 

Brooks, Rev. Charles, 426, 427. 

Brooks tavern, 307. 

Browne, John, 29, 31. 

Browne, Samuel, 29, 31. 



Bruce, Major, 319. 

Brunswick, Maine, 181. 

Buchanan, James, 482. 

Buckman's tavern, 302. 

Buffinton, James, 476. 

Bulkley, Peter, 118. 

Bullock, Governor A. H., 523-533. 

Bull Run, battle of, 491. 

Bunker HUl, 309, 312-325, 330, 417, 

561. 
Burdet, Mr., (i2. 
Burgess, Colonel, 175. 
Burgoyne, General, 299, 314, 321,340- 

342. 
Burke, Edmund, 251, 290, 326. 
Burke, AVilliam, 281, 
Burlingame, Anson, 481. 
Burnet, William, 185-187,227. 
Burns, Anthony, 469. 
Burnside, General, 502, 503, 506. 
Burrill, J. S., 604, 510. 
Burroughs, Edward, 83. 
Burroughs, George, 165, 166. 
Burton, Colonel, 224. 
Bute, Earl of. 238, 245. 
Butler, Benjamin F., .486, 490, 497, 

498, 502, 503, 528, 545, 548. 
Butler, Major, 319. 
Butler, William O., 456. 
Buttrick, Major John, 305, 306. 
Buzzard's Bay, 22. 
Byles, Mather, 185. 

Cabot, John, 6. 

Cabot, Sebastian, 6. 

Calhoun, John C, 419, 478.. 

Calhoun, W. B., 438. 

Callender, Captain, 319. 

Callieres, M. de, 138. 

Cambridge, 36, 40, 45, 69, 70, 71-73, 
100, 180, 190, 269, 275, 280, 281, 
283, 287, 293, 299, 301, 308, 309, 
312-315, 318, 321, 324, 340, 347, 
436, 523, 562. 

" Cambridge Platform," 73. 

Camden, Lord, 229, 257, 259, 265, 271, 
297. 

Canada, 136, 142, 143, 145, 149, 150, 
153, 216, 222, 225, 333, 340. 

Candy, Indian girl, 159, 160. 

Canonchet, Indian chief, 108. 

Canonicus, Indian chief, 12, 51, 52. 

Canseau, 182, 193, 194. 

Cape Ann, 19-21, 27, 28, 332. 

Cape Breton, 193, 199. 

Cape Cod, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 65, 96. 

Cape Sable, 65. 

Carey, Mrs., 160. 

CarUsle, town of, 305, 309. 



INDEX. 



589 



Carrier, Martha, 167. 

Cartwright, Colonel George, 90. 

Carver, John, 9-11. 

Casco, 144. 

Cass, Lewis, 456, 478. 

Castine, Baron de, 181. 

Castine, town of, 143, 343, 344 ■ 

Castle Island, 42, 60, 89. 

Castle William, 293. 

Catechism, Eliot's, 73. 

Channing, W. E., 428, 432. 

" Charity," the ship, 19, 20. 

Charlemont, Lord, 259. 

Charles I., King, 27, 54, 64, 77. 

Charles II., King, 72, 83, 85-90, 94, 
95, 117, 123. 

Charles River, 28, 35, 317, 324. 

Charlestown, 11, 31, 35-37, 60, 69, 72, 
155, 160, 275, 287, 299, 300, 301, 
809, 312, 314, 315, 318, 321, 521. 

Charter, the, 54, 56, 76, 79, 87-91. 

Chase, Salmon P., 478. 

Chatham, Earl of, 258, 296-298. (See 
Pitt.) 

Chatliam, town of, 14. 

Chauricy, Charles, President of Har- 
vard College, 191, 192. 

Chelmsford, town of, 305, 309. 

Chelsea, 48, 314, 317. 

Chesterfield, Lord, 258. 

Chicopee, town of, 369. 

Choiseul, M. de., 257, 259. 

Christisson, Wenlock, 83. 

Church, Captain Benjamin, 103-115. 

Church, Dr. Benjamin, 284. 

Claflin, Governor William, 624-539. 

Clare, Lord, 251. 

Clarendon, Lord, 40, 89. 

Clark, John, 179. 

Clark, Nathaniel, 126. 

Clark, Rev. Jonas, 301. 

Clark, Richard, 286. 

Clarke, Captain, 319. 

Clay, Hcnrv, 420, 442, 478. 

Clayton, J. M., 478. 

Clifford, Governor John H., 464. 

Clinton, General, 299,314, 322. 

Coalition of 1850, the, 458. 

Cochituate, Lake, 452. 

Coddington, William, 34, 35. 

Codman, C R., 504. 

Coffin, F. J., 504. 

Cole's Hill, 9. 

Columbus, Christopher, 6. 

Coiver, Nathaniel, 438. 

Comins, L. B., 476. 

Committee of Safety, 314. 

Conant, Roger, 27, 28. 



Concord, town of, 48, 98, 104, 141, 

299-309, 560. 
Confederacy, the Puritan, 64. 
Confederacy of 1774, 74. 
Congregationalists, the, 81. 
Congress, Continental, 247, 292-295, 

311-313, 325, 331, 334, 335, 337- 

340, 342-344, 349, 352, 353, 377. 
Congress, General, 381, 382, 384, 3§5, 

391, 394, 400, 404, 407, 412, 414, 

418, 434, 435, 439, 442, 446, 447, 

473, 476, 486, 489. 
Congress, Provincial, 295, 311, 313, 

319. 
Connecticut, 37, 49, 56, 72, 74, 80, 82, 

89, 93, 96, 123, 124, 137, 149, 155, 

194, 208, 311, 312, 324, 336, 349. 
Connecticut River, 49, 50, 105. 
Constitution, the r,ederal, 376-383. 
" Constitution," the frigate, 392. 
Constitution, the State, 347, 348, 485. 
Convent of St. Ursula, 422. 
Conway, General, 250, 253, 255-257, 

279, 344. 
Cooke, Captain, 220. 
Copp's Hill, 317. 
Corey, Giles, 168. 
Corey, Goodwife, 159. 
Corlet, Master, 72. 
Cornwallis, Edward, 201. 
Cotton, Rev. John, 37, 39, 43, 45. 
Couch, General D. N., 524. 
Council for Plantations, the, 117, 121. 
Craddock, Matthew, 32, 59, 64. 
Cromwell, Oliver, 40, 79, 80'. 
Crown Point, 199, 207, 208, 213, 214, 

219-222. 
Cudworth, Major Jame%, 103, 104. 
Cumberland, Lord, 215. 
Curtis, George T., 463. 
Gushing, Thomas, 230, 282, 283, 299, 

348. 
Gushing, William, 377. 
Cushman, Robert, 14, 19, 21. 

Dalrymple, Colonel, 266, 274, 275, 

282. 
Damarin's Cove, 13. 
Dana, R. H., Jr., 523, 661. 
Danvers, town of, 309. 
Dartmouth, Earl of, 251, 284, 296, 325, 

326. 
" Dartmouth," the ship, 288. 
D'Aulney, 66. 
D'Anville, Due d.e, 198. 
Davenant, Charles, 226. 
Davenport, Captain, 89. 
Davis, Captain Isaac, 305, 306. 



690 



INDEX. 



Davis, Gorernor John, 421-424, 437, 

438, 441, 465. 
Davis, Jefferson, 478. 
Davis, Mr., 147. 
Dawes, H. L., 560. 
Dawes, William, 301. 
Day, Luke, 368, 369, 373. 
Daye, Stephen, 72. 
Deane, Thomas, 94. 
Dearborn, General, 403. 
Declaration of Independence, 335-339, 

347. 
Dedham, town of, 48, 99, 309. 
Deerfield, town of, 106, 144, 146. 
De Kalb, General, 260. 
De Lancey, Governor, 208. 
Delaware, 336. 
Delfthaven, 5. 
Democratic Party, 411, 414, 418, 423, 

436, 442, 456, 458, 460, 461, 474, 

476, 477, 479, 482, 486, 532, 536, 

544, 547, 552, 556, 563. 
Descartes, 46. 

Devens, Charles, Jr., 496, 524, 662. 
Devens, Richard, 300. 
Devonshire, Duke of, 218. 
D'Iberville, 143. 
Dickinson, Mr., 338. 
Dieskau, General, 208-210. 
Dinwiddle, Governor, 202. 
Dorchester Company, 21, 27, 29. 
Dorchester, town- of, 20, 29, 38, 40, 49, 

53, 60, 72, 309, 314, 329. 
Douglas, Stephen A., 472, 478. 
Dover, town of, 65, 85. 
Dowdeswell, 290. 
Dress, modes pf, 361, 362. 
Duchambon,' 195, 197. 
Dudley, Joseph, 120-128, 133-135, 144, 

175, 227. 
Dudley, Thomas, 34-40, 48. 
Dummer, Wijliam, 184, 187. 
Dunster, Henry, 70, 191. 
Dustin, Hannah, 141. 
Dutch, the, 22, 46, 49, 61, 63, 80, 90. 
Duvivier, 193. 
Duxbury, town of, 26. 
Dwight, Edmund, 429. 
Dyer, Mary, 83. 

East India Company, 286, 287. 
Eaton, Nathaniel, 70. 
Education fostered, 69. 
Edwards, Jonathan, 191. 
Egg Islands, 152. 
Egreraont, Earl of, 236-238. 
Election Sermon, 78. 
Eliot, John, 97-100. 
Elizabeth, Queen, 1, 6. 



Emerson, George B., 428. 
Emerson, Rev. William, 303, 304. 
Endicott, John, 28, 29, 31, 41, 48, 50, 

84, 93. 
Episcopacy, 31, 191. 
Eppendorff, Max, 498. 
Essex, county of, 49. 
Eustis, Governor William, 414. 
Everett, Governor Edward, 425-431, 

436, 449, 465, 478, 521. 

Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 52. 

Falmouth, town of, 183. 

Faneuil Hall, 266, 275, 286, 287, 292, 

407, 418, 419, 422, 429, 432, 438, 

442, 447, 452, 460, 470, 471, 481, 

491, 623. 
Federalists, the, 383, 411, 413, 414. 
Fenwick, Bishop, 423. 
Filcher, Mr., 24. 
Fillmore, Millard, 456-459, 482. 
Fish, Hamilton, 478. 
Fletcher, Governor of New York, 162. 
FoUansbee, Albert S., 504. 
Follett, Dexter H., 497. 
Forbes, Joseph, 219, 220. 
Forefather's Rock, 8. ' 
Fort Cumberland, 207. 
Fort Duquesne, 201, 206, 207, 220. 
Fort Edward, 208, 209, 216, 218. 
Fort Frederick, 208. 
Fort Frontenac, 213, 214, 221. 
Fort Halifax, 206. 
Fort Lawrence, 210. 
Fort Massachusetts, 199. 
Fort Mystic, 52. 
Fort Narragansett, 107. 
Fort Necessity, 203. 
Fort Niagara, 207, 213, 214, 222. 
Fort Pemaquid, 65, 134, 143, 148 
Fort Piscataqua, lc4. 
Fort Sumter, 488. 
Fort Toronto, 214. 
Fort Western, 206. 
Fort William Henry, 134, 213, 216, 

217. 
" Fortune," the ship, 12. 
Fox, Charles James, 215, 345. 
Fox, George, 82, 83. 
Frapiingham, town of, 309. 
France, 8, 135, 136, 143. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 192, 203-206, 229, 

230, 254, 282, 335, 338, 345, 377. 
Free Soil Party, 456-461, 464, 474, 

476. 
Fremont, J. C, 482. 
French, the, 61, 63-66, 81, 135, 137, 

141-150. 
Frontenac, Count, 137-140. 



INDEX. 



591 



Fryeburg, town of, 183. 

Frye, Colonel, 314. 

Fugitive Slave Law, 459, 460, 469, 

474, 485. 
Fuller, Kose, 289. 

Gabarus Bay, 220. 

Gadsden, Christopher, 249. 

Ga!?e, Thomas, 250, 266, 291-300, 301, 
308, 313-318, 324, 325. 

Gainsborough, church at, 3. 

Gardner, Colonel, 318, 323. 

Gardner, Governor Henry J., 476-483. 

Garrison, William Lloyd, 434. 

Gaspereaux, 211. 

Gaston, William, 560-563. 

Gates, General, 340, 343. 
. Gedney, Bartholomew, 162. 

General Court of Massachusetts, 45, 
62, 64, 73, 74, 78, 80, 85-90, 118, 
123, 128-136, 148, 151, 176, 199, 
206, 239, 248, 249, 258, 262, 269, 
280-285, 290-295, 332, 333, 339, 
341, 344, 247, 365-370, 373, 397, 
401, 413, 464, 466, 469, 479, 482, 
483, 519, 528, 533, 536, 549, 555, 
559. 

Genet, Citizen, 387, 388. 

George I., King of England, 135, 175, 
185. 

George II., King of England, 197. 

George III., King of England, 231, 
232, 236, 399. 

Georgetown, 181. 

Georgia, 213, 336, 338. 

Germain, Lord George, 826. 

Gerrish, Samuel, 314. 

Gerry, Governor Elbridge, 300, 376, 
377, 391, 396-399. 

Gerrymandering, 399. 

Gill, Lieutenant Governor Moses, 393. 

Gilmore, P. S., 538, 548. 

Glass Works, 68. 

Gloucester, town of, 48. 

Glover, Joseph, 72. 

Goddard, Captain, 152. 

Goffe, Colonel, 85, 88, 106. 

Gorges, Robert, 18, 19, 59, 118, ll9. 

Gorges, Ferdinando, 18. 

Gorges, Lord Edward, 61. 

Good, Sarah, 157, 163. 

Gore, Christopher, 395. 

Gorton, Samuel, 46-48, 79. 

Gortonists, the, 191. 

Grafton, Duke of, 250, 257, 2%h, 278, 
326. 

Grammar schools, 72. 

Grand Council, the, 204. 

Grand Pre, 211, 212. 



Grant, General U. S., 508, 522,. 546. 

Graves, Samuel, 313. 

Graves, Thomas, 29. 

Gould, J. P., 517. 

Gray, Samuel, 274. 

Great Awakening, the, 191. 

Green, Samuel, 73. 

Greene, General Nathanael, 314, 342. 

Greene, W. B., 496. 

Greenleaf, H. A., 505. 

Grenville, George, 237-345, 250, 253, 

256, 260, 345. 
Gridley, Jeremiah, 231, 233. 
Gridley, Richard, 314-323. 
Grimke, Angelina E., 432. 
Griswold, C. E., 517. 
Groton, town of, 33, 52, 111, 141, 300. 
Guilford, Earl of, 261. 
" Guinea," the ship, 89. 

Hadley, town of. 105-107, 112 

Hale, Rev. Mr., 172. 

Hale, Mrs., 170. 

Halifax, 201, 202, 211, 217, 220. 

Halifax, Earl of, 202, 237. 

Hall, R. B., 476. 

Hallowell, the comptroller, 263, 313. 

Hamlin, Hannibal, 486. 

Hampton Falls, 189. 

Hancock, Jolin, 263, 264, 286, 293- 

301, 313, 348, 351, 374, 377, 386. 
Harrison, William Henry, 438. 
Hartford, 37, 52. 53, 64, 352. 
Hartford Convention, 405-407. 
Hartshorne, Tli6mas, 147. 
Harvard College, 70, 71, 132, 352, 435, 

449, 523. 
Harvard; Rev. John, 69, 71. 
Haskins, Mrs., 160. 
Hatfield, town of, 106, 112. 
Hathorn, Justice, 161. 
Hathorne, Major, 94, 130. 
Haverhill, town of, 48, 141, 142, 147. 
Hawley, Joseph, 282. 
Haynes, Israel, 461. 
Haynes. John, 37, 40, 49, 64. 
Hayward, James, 307. 
Heath, General, 327, 343,. 380, 381. 
" Hector,'" the ship, 42. 
Henchman, Captain Daniel, 103. 
Henry, Patrick, 293. 
Higginson, Francis, 30. 31, 35. 
Higginson, T. W., 470. 
Hill, General, 151. 
Hillsborough, Earl of, 238, 262, 263, 

277, 281-284. 
Hinckley, Thomas, 127. 
Hingham, town of, 48, 426. 
Hinks, E. W., 496. 



592 



INDEX. 



Hoar, Samuel, 438. 

Hobby, Sir Charles, 149. 

Hobomok, 12-15. 

Hocking, 66. 

Holbrook, C. L., 504. 

Holland, 6, 81. 

Holmes, Abiel, quoted, 116. 

Holmes, O. W., 444, 624. 

Holyoke, town of, 112. 

Hooker, General Joseph, 506-508. 

Hooker, Richard, 226. 

Hooker, Thomas, 37, 49, 64, 76 

Hooper, Samuel, 523. 

Hoosac Tunnel, 469, 528, 631, 535, 

541, 555, 557. 
Hopkins, Stephen, 7. 
Hopkins, Stephen, Governor of Khode 

Island, 204. 
Hosmer, Abner, 306. 
Hosmer, Joseph, 305. 
House of Commons, 3, 17, 78, 85, 237- 

242, 249-259, 268-271, 281. 
House of Industry, 386, 413. 
House of Lords, '249, 256, 267, 270, 

281, 290, 296. 
House of Representatives established, 

66. 
Howe, General, 299, 314-330. 
Howe, Elizabeth, 163. 
•Howe, Lord, 219, 221. 
Howe, Mrs. J. W.;524. 
Howe, S. G., 470, 471. 
Hubbard, Rev. William, quoted, 16, 70. 
Hubbard, Thomas, 216. 
Hudson's Bay, 6, 143. 
Hudson River, 61, 90. 
Hull, town of, 49. 
Humphrey, John, 28, 34, 59. 
Hutchinson, Captain Edward, 104, 105, 

130. 
Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, 42-46. 
Hutchinson, Thomas, 204, 216, 230- 
■ 247', 262, 263, 268-274, 280-291, 

296. 
Hutchinson, William, 42. 

Indemnity Act, the, 370. 

Independents, the, 1, 3. 

Indian College, 100. 

Ireland, 8. 

Iron Founderies, 68. 

Iroquois Indians, 140, 151, 209. 

Ipswich, town of, 57, 65. 

Jackson, Andrew, 418-424, 434. 
Jacobs, Margaret, 168. 
Jamaica Plain, 314. 
James I., King of England, 1, 2, 6, 8, 
10, 27, 65. 



James II., King of England, 123, 143. 

James River, 6. 

Jamestown, 7. 

Jay, John, 387, 390. 

Jefferson, Thomas, 334-338, 393, 399, 

418, 440. 
Jenkinson, Charles, 238, 239. 
Jesuits, the, 65, 136. 
Johnson, Andrew, 518-532. 
Johnson, Arabella, 36._ 
Johnson, Tsaac, 34-36.' 
Johnson, Sir William, 207-216, 222. 
Johnston, John, 147. 
Jones, E. F., 497. . 
Jones, E. J., 505, 513. 
Jonee, Margaret, 155. 

Kansas-Nebraska Bill, the, 472-479. 
Kennebec River, 21, 23, 66, 143, 148, 

206, 344. 
Keppel, Commodore, 206. 
Kimball, J. W., 505. 
King Philip's war, 96-117, 140. 
King William's war, 143. 
Kittery, 65. 

Knowles, Commodore, 199. 
Knowlton, Captain, 314. 
Know-Nothingism., 476. 
Knox, General, 273. 
Knox, John, 2. 
Kossuth, Louis, 463. 
Kuhn, Jacob, 377. 
Kurtz, John, 496. 

I^abrador, 6, 143. 
La Canardiere, 139- 
La Heve, fort at, 66. 
La .Tonquiere, 198. 
La Plaque, 187. 
La Tour, 65. 
Ladd, L. C, 491. 
Lafayette, General, 342, 417. 
Lake Champlain, 137, 209. 
Lake George, 208, 209, 217, 221. 
Lake Ontario, 222. 
Laloutre, Abbe, 210,211. 
Lancaster, town of, 109, 141, 146. 
Langdon, President, 315. ' 
Lathrop, Mr., 414. 
Latimer, George, 438, 439. 
Laud, Archbishop, 27, 61, 62, 81. 
Laurie, Captain, 304. . 
Lawrence, Abbott, 429, 431. 
Lawrence, Amos A., 486. 
Laws of the colony, 73. 
Learned, Colonel, 331. 
Lechmere's Point, 301, 327, 329. 
Lee, F. L., 504. 
Lee, General Charles, 313. 



INDEX. 



593 



Lee, General Robert E., 503 

Lee, H. C, 497, 530. 

Lee, Henry, 294. 

Lee, Mr., 300. 

Lee, Ricliard Henry, 333, 335, 336. 

Lee, W. R., 496. 

Leicestersliire, 30. 

Leonard, S. H., 495. 

Leverett, John, 80, 85, 118. 

Leverett, Thomas, 37. 

Lexington, town of, 300-310, 429, 560. 

Leyden, 3. 

"Liberty," the sloop, 263. 

Liberty Tree, the, 245, 250, 257, 264, 

286. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 486, 488, 489, 518, 

522. 
Lincoln, General Benjamin, 332, 368- 

373. 
Lincoln, Governor Levi, 395, 414-421. 
Lincolnshire, 31, 34, 42. 
Lincoln, town of, 304, 305, 309. 
Liquor laws, 477, 530-559, 
" Little James," the ship, 18. 
Littleton, town of, 305, 309. 
Livingston, R. R.,335. 
Lloyd, James, 399. 
London Company, the, 6. 
Long Island, 333. 
Longeuil M. de, 140, 217. 
Lords of Trade, the, 238. 
Lorincr, E. G., 469. 
Loring, G. B., 514, 523, 565. 
Loudoun, Earl of, 215-219. 
Louis XI'V.,Kingof France, 143. 
Louisburg, 193, 195-202, 208-211, 217- 

220. 
Lovejoy, Rev. Eljiah, 432, 433. 
Lovell, Solomon, 343. 
Lovewell, Captain John, 183. 
Lowell, 415, 464, 491, 522. 
Ludlow, Roger, 39. 
Ludlow, town of, 369. 
Lunatic Hospital, 416. 
Lyford, John, 19-21. 
Lyman, General, 208, 216. 
Lynn, town of, 36, 38, 48, 68, 309. 
"Lyon," the ship, 36. 

Machias, 65, 

Madeira Islands, 68. 

Madison, James, 395-404. 

Maine, 117, 119, 141-143, 340, 343, 

351, 404, 408, 440, 441. 
Maisonforte, 196. 
Manhattan, 22, 80. 
Mann, Horace, 428, 449, 467. 
Manning, C. H., 498. 
Manomet, 23. 



Manufactures, 68. 

Marblehead, 332, 490. 

Marlborough, town of, 109, 151. 

Marshall, John, 391. 

Marsh, L. B., 505. 

Marshfield, town of, 296, 442. 

Martin, Captain, 490. 

Martin, Susanna, 103. 

Maryland, 6, 125, 336. 

Mascarene, General, 183. 

Mason, George, 377. 

Mason, John, 52, 53, 59-62, 118-120. 

Massachusetts Bay, 96. 

Massachusetts Colony, 26-53, 112, 117, 

121. 
Massachusetts Company, 29, 32, 38, 

52, 62. 
Massachusetts Indians, 11, 15, 102. 
JNlassachusetts Mint, 350. 
Massasoit, 10-15, 101. 
Mather, Cotton, 130, 134, 157-163, 166, 

170, 173, 180. 
Mather, Increase, 122-130. 
Mather, Richard, 40. 
Mattaneag, 49. 
Mauduit, Mr., 240-261. 
May, Abby, 525. 
" Mayflower," the ship, 5-11. 
Mayhew, Jonathan, 97, 244, 246. 
McClellan, George B., 498-506. 
Meade, General, 508, 524. 
Medfield, town of. 111. 
Medford, town of, 301, 309, 314. 
Mercer, Colonel, 208. 
Merchant Adventurers, the, 19-23. 
Merriam, Mr., 307. 
Merrimack River, 16, 28, 144, 147. 
Merry Mount, 24. 
Messer, C. P., 505. 
Mexico, 6, 446, 447. 
Miantonomo, 47, 52. 
Middleborough, town of, 102. 
Middlesex Canal, 386. 
Miles, Mr., 103. 
Militia, 487, 528. 
Mill River disaster, 555. 
Mills erected, 68. 
Milton, town of, 112, 309. 
Minas, 202. 
Minot, George, 304. 
Minute Men, 296. 
Mishawum, 31. 
Missouri, 411, 412. 
Missouri Compromise, 412, 472, 479. 
Mitchell, General, 319. 
Mohawks, the, 144. 
Mohegans, the, 52, 96, 104, 107. 
Monamoycke, 14. 
Monckton, Colonel, 210, 223. 



694 



INDEX. 



Monhegan, 13-17. 

Monro, Colonel, 218. 

Monroe, James, 404, 411. 

Montcalm, General, 217-225. 

Montmorenci River, 223. 

Montreal, 137, 146, 150, 217, 225. 

Morrice, Secretary, 86. 

Morris, Robert, 349. 

Morse, A., 496. 

Morton, Governor Marcus, 436-442. 

Morton, Ichabod, 428. 

Moulton's Point, 318. 

Mount Benedict, 324, 422. 

Munhiggon, 20. 

Murray, General, 223. 

Mutiny Act, the, 243. 

Mystic River, 35, 324. • 

Nantasket, 20, 36, 65, 137, 142, 199, 

266, 333. 
Nantucket, 97. 

Narragansett Bay, 10, 22, 46, 51. 
Narragansett Indians, 12, 50-52, 81, 

96, 104-109. 
Natick, town of, 99. 
National Bank, 349. 
National Republican party, 420, 421. 
Naumkeag, 27-30, 120. 
Nauset, 14. 
Needham, S. H., 491. 
Needham, town of, 309. 
Neponset, 98. 
Nesbit, Captain, 319. 
New England Council, 17, 25, 61. 
" New England First Fruits," 70. 
" New England Primer," 361. 
" New English Canaan," 25. 
New France, 219. 
New Hampshire, 45, 64, 117, 119, 149, 

194, 197, 213, 311, 312, 324, 336. 
New Haven, 74. 
New Jersey, 336. 
New Netherland, 22, 90. 
New Orleans, 407. 
New York, 128, 137, 144, 149, 162, 

217, 241, 249, 274, 333, 336-342, 

352. 
Newbury, town of, 48, 141. 
Newcastle, Duke of, 216, 244. 
Newfoundland, 143. 
Newport, 342. 
Newton, town of, 98, 309. 
Newtown, 36, 38, 44, 49, 56, 64, 69. 
Niantick, 81. 
Nichols, Richard, 90. 
Nicholson, Francis, 149, 150. 
Nims, O. F., 497. 
Nipmucks, the, 96, 104, 109. 
Norfolk, 49. 



Normal schools, 426-429, 437, 448. 

Norridgewock, 181, 182. 

North, Lord, 261, 267, 271, 278-285, 

290-298, 326, 345. 
North Carolina, 336. 
Northampton, town of, 112, 366, 631. 
Northfield, town of, 106. 
Norton, Captain, 49, 84, 87. 
Nova Scotia, 207, 210, 340. 
Noyes, Mr., 163, 165. 
Nugent, Mr., 251, 252. 
Nurse, Rebecca, 163. 

Oceanus, 7. 

Ohio River, 218. 

Old South Church, 275, 287, 288, 325. 

Oldham, John, 19-25, 49. 

Oliver, Andrew, 231, 244-246, 250, 

275. 
Ontario, Lake, 206, 208. 
Orne, Mr., 300. 
Osborn, Sarah, 157. 
Oswald, Richard, 345. 
Oswego, 207-209, 215. 
Otis, Harrison Gray, 407, 422. 
Otis, James, 230-236, 243, 264, 268, 

282-284. 
Otis, John, 216. 
Otis, Mrs. H. G., 525. 
Otis, Samuel A., 373. 

Paine, H. W., 514, 515, 519. 

Palfreys, Peter, 28. 

Pamlico Sound, 6. 

Paper money, 366, 435. 

Parker, Captain John, 302, 308. 

Parker, Isaac, 409. 

Parker, Theodore, 469, 471. 

Parkhurst, Noah, 306. 

Parkman, George, 453. 

Parliament of Great Britain, 3, 16, 27, 

33, 61, 77, 85, 129, 186, 203, 206- 

219, 227, 232-247, 250-262, 265- 

296, 345. 
Paris, Mr., 156-172. 
Parsons, Captain, 304. 
Parsons, Theophilus, 373, 375, 523. 
Patterson, Colonel, 318. 
Patuxet, 10, 107. 
Pawtucket River, 111. 
Paxton, Captain, 313. 
Peace Jubilee, 538, 548. 
Peirce, E. W., 497. 
Peirson, G. H., 504. 
Pelham, town of, 369. 
Pemaquid River, 148. 
Pennsylvania, 336. 
Penobscot River, 66, 81, 144, 182, 202, 

343. 



INDEX. 



595 



Pepperell, town of, 309. 

Pepperell, William, 193-199. 

Pequots, the, 49-53, 64, 96. 

Percy, Lord Hugh, 301, 308, 309, 319. 

Perkins, Thomas H., 407. 

Personal Liberty Act, the, 485. 

Pesaquid, 202. 

Peters, Hugh, 40, 78. 

Petersham, town of, 369. 

Phelps, A. A., 434. 

Philadelphia, 206, 293, 312, 324, 335, 

349. 
Philip, King, 101-116. 
Phillips, 283. 
Phillips, Captain, 490. 
Phillips, John, 413. 
Phillips, Mr., 35, 36. 
Phillips, Samuel, Jr., 373. 
Phillips, Wendell, 432, 438, 470, 493, 

542. 
Phips, Sir William, 128-142, 162. 
Phips, Spencer, 216. 
Pickering, Colonel, 309, 349. 
Pierce, Captain, 111. 
Pierce, Franklin, 465, 478. 
Pierce, Mr. 73. 
Pigot, General, 319-342. 
Pilgrims, the, 1-23, 31, 66, 80, 96. 
Pinckney, C. C, 391. 
Piscataqua, 25, 65. 
Pitcairn, Major, 302, 319. 
Pitkin, William, 204. 
Pitt, William, 216-225, 227-244, 251, 

253-258, 270. (See Chatham, Earl 

of.) 
Pittsburg, 221. 
Pittsfield, town of, 444. 
Plunkett, T. F., 524, 525. 
Plymouth Colony, 1-23, 49, 60-72, 

101, 126. 
Pocasset, 103, 114. 
Point Levi, 138, 222. 
Pole, Captaiir, 304. 
Polk, James K., 444. 
Pomeroy, Seth, 195. 
Pomeroy, S. C, 523. 
Porter, Joseph, 497. 
Portland, 351. 
Port xtoyal, 136, 149. 
Portsmouth, 65, 383. 
Powder-house, 293. 
Pownall, Thomas, 216, 227, 279, 290. 
Praying Indians, 99, 146. 
Pratt, Charles, 229. 
Prentice, Captain, 103. 
Prescott, Colonel William, 314-322. 
Prescott, Samuel, 303. 
Preston, Captain, 273, 276. 
Prideaux, General, 221. 



Printing press erected, 72. 
Proctor, John, 166. 
Prospect Hill, 308, 323, 341. 
Providence, 47, 51, 111. 
Provost, Major, 138. 
Puritans, the, 1, 27, 40, 66, 77, 80. 
Putnam, Israel, 209, 312-323, 327, 331. 
Pynchon, Mr., 35, 36. 

Quaboag, 104, 109. 

Quakers, the, 81-84, 191. 

Quebec, 136-140, 150-152, 198, 208, 

211-214, 221. 
Quincy, Edmund, 422, 434. 
Quincy, Josiah, 400, 413, 417, 422, 

429. 
Quincy, Josiah, Jr., 261, 267, 276, 

288, 296. 
Quincy, town of, 23. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 6. 

Ramsey, M. de, 138, 224. 

Rand, A. A., 517. 

Randolph, Edmund, 377. 

Randolph, Edward, 118-128. 

Randolph, Peyton, 293. 

Rantoul, Robert, 474, 476. 

Rasieres, M. de, 22. 

Rasles, Sebastian, 180-183. 

Rawdon, Lord, 319. 

Raynham, town of, 68. 

Razilla, <o%. 

Reading, town of, 306, 309. 

Reed, James, 314, 317. 

Reform School, 477. 

Rehoboth, town of, 104. 

Republican party, the, 418, 474, 482, 

486, 532, 536, 544, 552, 556, 564. 
Revenue Bill, the, 260, 262, 265. 
Revere, Paul, 300, 301. 
Revision of statutes, 436. 
Revolution, the war, 332-346. 
Rhode Island, 47, 51, 82, 93, 96, 103, 

123, 162, 190, 194, 249, 311, 324, 

336, 341, 484. 
Rice, Alexander H., 523, 565. 
Richards, John, 121, 162. 
Richelieu, Cardinal, 65. 
Richmond, Duke of, 281. 
Richmond, S. P., 504. 
Riot in Baltimore, 491. 
River Indians, 109. 
Roanoke Island, 6. 
Robinson, James T., 466. 
Robinson, John, 4, 21. 
Robinson, William, 83. 
Robinson William S., 466. 
Rockingham, Marquis of, 244, 250, 

257, 281, 297, 345. 



596 



INDEX. 



Rolfe, Benjamin, 147, 148. 

" Romney," the ship, 263. 

Rosewell, Henry, 28, 29. 

Rotch, 288. 

Rouville, Hertel de, 144-147. 

Rowlandson, Mrs., 109-110. 

Rowley, town of, 48. 

Roxbury, 36, 38, 45, 72, 97, 275, 299, 

309, 314, 324, 329, 331, 531. ■ 
Ruggles, Timothy, 231, 317. 
Russell, H. S., 517. 
Rutledge, Edward, 249, 384-336. 
Ryswick, peace of, 143. 

Salem, 27, 31, 35, 41, 51, 59, 147, 156- 

165, 171, 186, 295, 309, 332. 
Salisbury, town of, 48. 
Saltonstall, Nathaniel, 162. 
Saltonstall, Richard, 59, 130. 
Saltonstall, Richard, 343. 
Saltonstall, Sir Richard, 34, 36. 
Samoset, 9, 10. 
Sandwich, town of, 23, 26. 
S? -atoga, 341. 
Sa.gent, Paul Dudley, 312. 
Sargent, Peter, 163. 
Sassacus, 53. 
Sassamon, 102. 

Saunders, Sir Charles, 222, 223. 
Say, Lord, 89. 
Saybrook, town of, 50. 
Scituate, 26, 111. 
Schouler, William, 527. 
Schuyler, General, 144, 148. 
Scotland, 8. 
Scott, Colonel, 210. 
S( ottow, Joshua, 93. 
S* 'ooby, church at, 3, 
S "gwick, Robert, 80. 
f konk Plain, 104, 111. 
1. aratists, the, 1. 
£ -all. Councillor, 313. 
f rail, Samuel, 163, 172, 184. 
; ward, William H., 478, 479. 
\ >anly, Walter, 535, 538. 
J law, Isaac, 423, 438. 
JS law, Robert G., 507. 
S lawmut, 11, 36. 
S lawomet, 47, 48. 
Sharpe, Samuel, 29. 
Shattuck, Samuel, 83, 84. 
Shays, Daniel, 366-375. 
Shays's Rebellion, 364-375. 
Sheepscot River, 148. 
Sheffield, Lord, 19. 
Shelburne, Lord, 238, 257, 297, 345. 
Shepard, General, 366-369. 
Shepard, Thomas, 40. 
Sherman, Roger, 335. 



Ship-yards, 68. 

Shirley, WilUam, 191-213, 214-216, 

227. 

Short, Captain, 319. 

Shuldham, Admiral, 329. 

Shute, Samuel, 175-187, 227. 

Sims, Thomas, 463. 

Six Nations, tribe of, 203. 

Skelton, Samuel, 31. 

Slavery, 58, 350, 379, 411. 431, 439, 
444, 448, 456, 464, 472, 481. 

Small-pox in Boston, 179, 328. 

Smith. Colonel, 302-309. — 

Smith, William, 204. 

Socinianism, 191. 

" Somerset," the ship, 317. 

Southampton, 5, 7. 

South Carolina, 229, 336, 419, 420. 

Southcote, Thomas, 28, 29. 

" Sparrow," the ship, 13. 

Specie Circular, the, 434. 

" Speedwell," the ship, 5, 7. 

Spencer, General, 314. 

Spendlove, General, 319. 

Sprague, A. B. R., 505. 

Sprague, Ralph, 30. 

Sprague, Richard, 30. 

Sprague, William, 30. 

Springfield, 49, 366-369, 429. 

Squantum, 11. 

St. Charles River, 139, 223. 

St. Clair, General, 198. 

St. Croix River, 65, 125. 

St. George River, 143. 

St. Helene, 140. 

St. John's River, 81. 

St. Lawrence River, 138, 151, 218. 

" St. Patrick," the ship, 42. 

Stamp Act, the, 239-265. 

Standish, Miles, 9, 26. 

Stark, General, 312, 317, 340. 

State Prison, 336, 416, 551. 

Stearns, G. M., 532. 

Stevenson, Marmaduke, 83. 

Stevenson, T. G., 497. 

Stone, Samuel, 37, 49. 

Story, Joseph, 32, 247, 485. 

StoAv, town of, 309. 

Stowe, E. F., 505. 

Stoughton, Israel, 53. 

Stoughton, William, 118-132, 162, 172. 

Strafford, Earl of, 42. 

Strawberry Bank, 65. 

Strong, Caleb, 378-408. 

Subercase, 149. 

Sudbury, town of, 48, 112, 300, 309. 

Suffolk, county of, 49. 

Suiiivan, James, 393-395. 

Sullivan, William, 342, 407. 



INDEX. 



597 



Sumner, Charles, 447-467, 472-482, 

547, 553. 
Sumner, Increase, 390, 474. 
Sunday schools, 386. 
Supreme Judicial Court, 350. 
Suttle, Charles F., 469. 
Swan, Caleb, 482. 
" Swan," the ship, 14. 
Swanzey, town of, 102, 103. 
Sweetzer, Theodore H., 529. 

Taconnet Falls, 206. 

Tailer, Colonel, 149. 

Talbot, Thomas, 554. 

Tasker, Benjamin, 204. 

Taunton, 26, 104. 

Taylor, Charles A., 491. 

Taylor, Father, 423. 

Taylor, General Zachary, 447, 456. 

Tea Party, the Boston, 289. 

Temple, Lord, 244, 281. 

Temple, ThoP is, 89. 

Texas, 444, 446. 

Thacher, Oxenbridge, 230, 242, 249. 

Thames River, 49, 96. 

Thanksgiving, 11, 81. 

Thatcher, Anthony, 40. 

Theatre, first in Boston, 361. 

Thomas, General, 314, 329. 

Thompson, General, 379. 

Three Rivers, 137. 

Ticonderoga, 208, 213, 219, 221.' 

Tisquantum, 13. 

Titcomb, General, 209. 

Tituba, 157. 

Townshend, Charles, 237, 257-261. 

Trade, Acts of, 177. 

Treat, Major, 106, 107. 

Trepezee, M. de, 221. 

Troy and Greenfield Railroad, 469, 

528, 535. 
Tucker, Joseph, 536. 
Turner, Captain, 112, 113. 
Tyler, President, 441, 442. 

Uncas, 52, 104. 
Underbill, Captain, 53. 
Upton, Edward, 497. 
Usher, Jobn, 119. 
Utrecht, Peace of, 188, 211. 

Van Buren, Martin, 420, 424, 456. 
Vane, Sir Henry, 40-55, 79. 
Vaudreuil, M. de, 148, 209, 217, 225. 
Vaughn, William, 195. 
Vergennes, Count, 345. 
Vernon, Admiral, 189. 
Vetch, Colonel, 150. 
Virginia Company, 4, 61. 



Wachusett, Mount, 96. 

Wadsworth, Captain, 112. 

Wainwright, Samuel, 147. 

Walker, H., 504. 

Walker, Sir Hovenden, 150-152. 

Walpole, Sir Robert. 188-192, 239. 

Walton, Colonel, 149. 

Wampanoags, 10, 96, 101. 

Ward, General Artemas, 311, 321, 

331. 
Ward, Nathaniel, 57. 
Wardrop, Colonel, 498. 
Warren, Commodore, 193-199. 
Warren, Joseph, 264, 283, 293, 299, 

318, 323. 
Warwick, Earl of, 79. 
Warwick, town of, 47, 107. 
Washburn, Emory, 469, 477. 
Washburn, W. B., 545, 548, 554. 
Washington, George, 202, 220, 225, 

313, 324, 331, 341, 370, 382, 389, 

407. 
Watertown. 36, 72, 309, 311, 340. 
Watson, 300. 
Webb, General, 216, 224. 
Webster, Daniel, 413-419, 423, 435, 

440, 461, 478. 
Webster, John W., 453. 
Weitzell, General, 521. 
Welde, Joseph, 45. 
Wellesley, Marquis of, 72. 
Wells, Samuel, 216. 
Wenham, town of, 49. 
Wentworth, Thomas, 42. 
Wessagussett, 14, 19. 
West, Francis, 16. 
Westbrooke, Thomas, 181, 182. 
Western Railroad, 429, 431. 
Westfield, town of, 448. 
Westford, town of. 305, 309. 
West Indies, 68, 128, 142. p. 

Westminster Assembly, 77. 
Weston, Master, 13-16. 
Wetherby's tavern, 300. . .; 

Weymouth, town of, 14, 111. 
Whalley, Major, 86, 139. ; ! 

Wheeler, 373. ■-. 

Wheeler, Captain, 104. , •; 

Wheeler, Captain Timothy, 304. ; 
Wheeler, Sir Francis, 142. > 

Wheelwriglit, John, 43, 45. ^ 

Whetcomb, Simon, 28. 
Whigs, 421-425, 437-446, 456, 46.1, 

477, 479, 482. 
White, Mr., 20, 28. 
Whitefield, George, 192, 239. 
Whiting, Colonel, 149. 
Whitney, A. O., 491. 
Whiten, J. C, 617. 



598 



INDEX. 



Wilds, Sarah, 163. 

Wilkes, Francis, 186. 

Willard, Councillor, 316. 

Willard, John, 166. 

Willard, Joseph, 348. 

Willard, Major, 105. 

Williams, Abigail, 161. 

Williams, Ephraim, 209. 

Williams, General, cl9. 

Williams, Jonathan, 287. 

Williams, Mr., 144. 

Williams, R., 497. 

Williams, Roger, 47, 52, 82, 97. 

Williamstown, 199. 

Willoughby, Mr. 93, 94. 

Wilmot Proviso, the, 457. 

Wilson, Henry, 445, 456, 459, 461, 

466, 474, 476, 481, 496, 546, 564. 
Wilson, Mr., 36, 44. 
Wilson, Mr., 82. 
Windsor, town of, 49. 
Winslow, Edward, 9, 13, 19, 60, 66, 
': 79, 99. 



Winslow, John, 126. 

Winslow, John, 210, 216. 

Winter Hill, 323, 341. 

Winthrop, John, 33, 61, 55, 70, 77, 89, 

122. 
Winthrop, R. C, 447, 460, 461. 
Winthrop, Wait, 162. 
Wise, Henry A., 439. 
Witchcraft delusion, the, 154-173. 
Woburn, town of, 48, 309. 
Wolfe, General James, 219-224. 
Wollaston, Captain, 23, 24. 
WoUaston, Mount, 23, 43. 
Woodbury, John, 28. 
Worcester, 141, 350, 368, 429. 
Wright's tavern, 303. 
Writs of Assistance, 232-235. 
Wyman, P. T., 496. 

Yarmouth, 26. 

York, Archbishop of, 60. 

Young, Sir John, 28. 



SUMMARY. 



Introductory 20 pages. 

Text 598 " 

Illustrations 26 " 

Total 644 " 



/ 



